QSAC’s State Athletics Facility (SAF) track and field have recently undergone a major renovation ahead of a bumper year of events.
The SAF sees significant use year-round, with public training hosted five days a week, allowing amateur athletes and coaches to prepare for upcoming events. The facility is also regularly used by QAS elite athletes such as Gout Gout, Matt Denny, Riley Day, Lachie Kennedy, Ash Moloney and Cedric Dubler, just to name a few!
Recent upgrade works to the SAF track saw approximately 7,200m2 of track surfacing replaced with brand new surfacing, that had come to the end of its useful life.
QSAC Facilities and Operations Manager Alice Dingley said major renovations such as this are required periodically when the track has come to the end of its useful life.
“While we maintain the SAF track regularly to ensure it’s in top condition for athletes, the old track had reached the end of its useful life, and this replacement will ensure that its ready to be used in its entirety again for the next eight to 12 years,” Alice said.
“The new track surface has a more spring to it, making it extra responsive to athlete’s force and assisting in propelling them along.
“Since we last replaced the track, there have also been some improvements in surfacing technology, with the new track featuring a gel system which delivers more stable force reduction over a wider range of temperatures, meaning athletes are better supported year-round, particularly during the summer months.
“Regular users might also notice that we’ve tweaked some of the track colourings, with a new charcoal grey colour selected for the D areas and non-competition areas.”
As part of the works, the SAF field also required major reconstruction as it shares a similar lifespan to the track.
QSAC Grounds Manager David Teale said the field reconstructions was a big job that provided a number of benefits.
“The SAF field is used heavily by throws athletes for training, both elite athletes and public users, and this high use sees our Grounds team adding top dressing to the field every day,’ David said.
“With this sort of repair taking place daily, the field gradually builds up in places and therefore needs to be relevelled.
“Approximately 1,373m3 soil was removed from the SAF field, providing an opportunity to relevel the area and create a flatter landing zone for our throws athletes, allowing them to get a more accurate read of the distances they are reaching.
“The soil removed from the field will be reused where it can be the gardens around the precinct.”
The team at QSAC have more works planned over the coming months including upgrading their power and network infrastructure which will make a big difference in timing and recording functionality for event hirers.
The team are looking forward to welcoming athletes for the Queensland Athletics and Little Athletics Queensland state championships in March, ahead of Little Athletics Australia and Australian Athletics running their junior national championships in April – all of which will use the new track!