Indoor T&F facilities with meets for open / unattached athletes in the greater Atlanta region or in Georgia

Does UGA have an indoor track? Seems like it would - they've got to spend all the money the football team brings in somehow. If so, it might be worth asking if you could run in some of their races, assuming you're fast enough.

I would check the schedules of all of the colleges. No way they don't have some scrub meets.

There is no permanent indoor track and field facility in the state of Georgia, as far as I know.

Not anymore. When USATF temporarily moved their HQ to Georgia for the 96 games, they purchased a new 200m Banked Mondo track. They set it up in the now imploded Georgia Dome and ran probably less than 15 meets on it over the course of 4-5 years before it was just left in storage. I guess there was no real call for indoor track in Georgia. Eventually, in 2003ish, it was sold to Boise State, who gets good seasonal use out of it, and the track has hosted numerous NAIA and NCAA championships throughout the years.

Now you know.

p.s. I don't believe there is an indoor facility in Athens.

I believe emory hosts some open meets, as well as does the atlanta track club. In fact there is one at Emory this weekend called the Georgia crossplex showdown. You have until noon on 1/16, tomorrow, to register on directathletics.

They'll have a couple more in early spring

https://emory.prestosports.com/sports/mtrack/HomeMeetInfo/2020/index

Atlanta track club has a bunch, some may have decent competition:

https://www.atlantatrackclub.org/2020-all-comers-track-field-meet-week-1

Sewanee in TN has some meets, you can even find one on directathletics. You can even go farther afield to some schools in Nashville to race if you'd like.

Finally, I think there might be a road race in Atlanta at the end of Feb. Its kind of a big deal and I'd expect the "masses" races to be alright.

There, I've planned your season for you.

There, I've planned your season for you.

Thanks, genius... except those are OUTDOOR meets. The OP is inquiring about INDOOR meets.

The CrossPlex is in Birmingham. This is the closest indoor facility to Atlanta. Coincidentally, most Universities from Florida also have to travel to Birmingham to compete.

Thank you for the useful responses.

(Even if the winters aren't harsh and indoors isn't popular it seems odd/bizarre that there isn't a facility in all of GA, oh well)

JamesD2 wrote:

Does UGA have an indoor track? Seems like it would - they've got to spend all the money the football team brings in somehow. If so, it might be worth asking if you could run in some of their races, assuming you're fast enough.

No indoor tracks in Georgia. Indoor tracks are not needed since you can train outdoors all winter in Georgia. UGA does not have an indoor track.

I'm surprised that UGA doesn't have an indoor track. It does get cold in Athens and Georgia in general during the winter. Maybe not North Dakota cold but it does get cold that most sprinters wouldn't want to deal with.

Nigel_Bikes wrote:

I'm surprised that UGA doesn't have an indoor track. It does get cold in Athens and Georgia in general during the winter. Maybe not North Dakota cold but it does get cold that most sprinters wouldn't want to deal with.

There is a 65m sprint/jump area in the UGA indoor football facility

Now they just need to make a 200m indoor track and they would be set!

Even if the weather is nice enough to train outside most of the year in GA - it would seem like some people / teams would want the option to train indoors (particularly sprinters, jumpers, and throwers). And one would think that some school would want to be able to host a meet or a league / conference / county / sectional / divisional / state / national championship.

On the flipside - I always wondered what it was like growing up in location where you can train all year outdoors ... but if you want to compete during the winter you have to do it indoors for the most part. For great T&F athletes from equatorial countries that would be an interesting situation.

a quick google of a couple ncaa schools in warm climates shows:

UCSD hosts meets on it's outdoor track during the winter and it appears they don't go to a conference indoor championship (their Div2 "California Collegiate Athletic Association" conference doesn't appear to host an iT&F championship). They are joining Div1 Big West as of 2020 so it'll be interesting if they compete indoors or not.

The Miami (Florida) team only travels large distances northward and competes in major invitationals. So they train outdoors and compete indoors.

January is still quite cool (54/34) if you check the historical averages on the link below.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/athens/30601/january-weather/328217?year=2020

did wrote:

Even if the weather is nice enough to train outside most of the year in GA - it would seem like some people / teams would want the option to train indoors (particularly sprinters, jumpers, and throwers).

From looking at the weather for Athens, GA in January it would probably be beneficial to have an indoor facility especially for sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, and throwers. Distance runners would benefit by having a place to do intervals when it is cold and raining outside.