Track Trust formation a positive step forward

The official formation of the Wairarapa Regional All-Weather Athletics Track Trust is a positive step towards the construction of such a facility at the Pugh Sports Bowl in Masterton.
The trust will be chaired by well-known Masterton endurance athlete and administrator Sue Lyttle and trustees are Team Wairarapa track and field coaches Mark Harris and John Quinn, Wairarapa-Bush rugby identity Tom Roseingrave, Carterton Athletics Club life member Lois Pitt and Doug Bracewell of Sport Wairarapa.
Harris said the trust was "hugely encouraged" at the response received from the Masterton District Council when plans for the all-weather track were first put before councillors last month.
While they had stopped short of giving their unqualified support to the proposal the sum of $12,000 had been allocated to allow for a "thorough and complete" feasibility study to be undertaken.
"We are very excited that the council saw fit to contribute monies which will give us the chance to build an even more impressive case for the new track," Harris said. "Obviously we are still some way of getting a yes but at least we know they are not necessarily adverse to the idea either. Now it's up to us to prove beyond any doubt the track is a viable proposition, and we're confident we can do that."
Harris said two of the main factors involved in the feasibility study would involve costings and usage. Figures included in the proposal originally put before council suggested the total cost of an all-weather athletics track at the Pugh Sports Bowl, including other costs outside the track itself, would be in the region of $1m and Harris said these would now be "fine tuned" to ensure every avenue was covered in detail. On the subject of usage Harris said it was important the trust could provide figures which showed the track would have the necessary popularity in that regard, and again he was sure that could be done.
"We've been deliberately conservative in the numbers we have produced so far so we are confident we can improve on those," he said. "Every sporting body we have spoken to has been encouraging, they have all been very supportive as far as possible usage is concerned."
Harris said other issues likely to be part of the feasibility study were the security of the venue and how the track would be compatible with the needs of other Sports Bowl users such as soccer and the Summer Hummer promotion. "We need to be able to provide good, sensible answers to all the questions, that's what this is all about," he said.