I am a student at Ballenas Secondary and I run on the school’s track team as well as the Oceanside Track and Field Team. I can tell you that the track is most definitely not a more than adequate running surface.
After eight years, I am now well-conditioned to running on the uneven surface of potholes, divots, rocks and weeds but that does not make it a prime facility. To call it a cinder track would be an extreme exaggeration.
It does not surprise me that our track is at the bottom of the list to be repaired. There is a lack of interest from teachers to get directly involved in track. I am not saying the track team is more important than the football or soccer teams, or that the tennis courts are not in dire condition. Everything at our school could use some repair.
I am simply aggravated and upset that an athletic director does not support the improvement of the facilities equally and talk to track users before saying it is in good shape or is good enough. To have any member of our community notice and want to improve the state of our facility should be encouraged, not shut down by all the other needs of our school.
Oceanside Track and Field Club has won the award for the highest amount of points brought in by one club on Vancouver Island, and we have the worst facility of any club, it’s so bad we can’t even host a meet, never mind hosting the BC Summer Games or any other large events that would benefit the entire community.
Certainly the track does the job for the elementary school track meet every year, however, they would also benefit from a better facility as we are all making do.
For us older athletes who compete in higher standard stadiums, we know exactly what kind of condition our track is in and let me tell you, we are at the bottom. And I don’t believe anyone ever said we needed a $2.5 million dollar track, simply refinishing it with real cinder would be a great start and improvement.
Taylor Chestnut
Parksville