All is right on track

We have always said this is a facility for the whole of the community and everything has been planned around that.Mark HarrisThe $900,000 Pelorus Trust all-weather athletics track at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton could be ready for use within the next fortnight.

The laying of the blue rubberised synthetic surface should be completed by the end of this week, and that will just leave the painting of the white lines to mark out the eight lanes to be done.

WRATT (Wairarapa Regional All-Weather Track Trust) trustee Mark Harris coaches a number of the region's top athletes and while he expects the official opening of the track to be delayed until the start of the next summer season, he hopes to have his charges training there well before then.

"Once the lanes are painted it should be all go .... another couple of weeks should do it," Harris said.

It won't, however, be only the "serious" athletes who will benefit from the new track.

Also being encouraged to use it are school students of all ages and abilities, other sports codes for cross-training purposes, those needing a suitable venue for rehabilitation exercise, people with disabilities and the general public.

"We have always said this is a facility for the whole of the community and everything has been planned around that," Harris said.

While the cost of the track itself has been met, $50,000 is still required for the fence to be built around its perimeter.

Consequently, WRATT have launched a fundraising campaign aimed at having 50 business outlets or individuals come up with $1000 each, a donation which would be recognised in some tangible way, such as the erecting of advertising billboards.

Harris said the fence was necessary to protect the track from vandalism, something which had occurred during the construction process.

"We need to do everything we can to restrict access to the idiots who don't have any respect for public property."

On a brighter note, Harris is delighted that two major athletics events, the New Zealand inter-provincial championships for 14 and 15-year-olds and the North Island secondary schools track and field championships, have already been allocated to Masterton for next year.

The Wellington centre, which is about to begin work at Newtown Park, has requested that its pre-Christmas weekly regional "blackboard" meets are also held there.