Tuks celebrates new athletics track
Tuks Athletics Club recently celebrated their new running track with an out of season athletics event.
“We believe this new track will produce wonderful times in the future. It is a bit softer than the previous track and the athletes love this surface.”
These were the words of Len Claassen, chairman of the Tuks Athletics Club, at the recent official opening of the new athletics track at the university’s LC de Villiers sports campus.
Claassen told Rekord the new track, similar to the one used at last year’s world championships in Bejing, will be in high demand in the future due to the popularity of the surface.
The Tuks Athletics Club was so excited about the new circuit that they specially arranged an athletic event to celebrate its inauguration, even though the domestic season was already over.
The Mondo track, similar to that set to be used at the Rio Olympics in August, had been laid at a cost of about R10 million, said Tuks athletics club manager Danie Cornelius.
“This is the first of its kind in the country,” said Cornelius, adding that there was an earlier generation Mondo track in Rustenburg.
Cornelius said he had already been approached by Athletics SA about using the track to prepare the men’s 4x100m relay team for the Olympics.
Athletics SA has yet to coordinate an effort to qualify that team for Rio.
Among the advantages of the Mondo, as opposed to the previous Fintrex track, which was similar to Tartan, is that it is waterproof and can therefore not suffer water damage.
The Tuks track is guaranteed for eight years, and has a life expectancy of 12 years.
Mondo has a bouncy feel compared to other tracks and 400m hurdler LJ van Zyl said at last year’s world championships in Beijing he had to adapt his stride pattern on this kind of surface.
It is expected that the Tuks Athletics Club’s investment will attract a lot of local interest next season and many major events will be held there.
