Major work is being carried out at the all-weather athletics track at Aorangi Park in preparation for a $1 million resurfacing project early next year.
After resurfacing of the track was delayed twice due to Covid-19 preventing installers from entering the country, all the materials are now in New Zealand, and the surface is due to be laid in late January.
As well as preparing the track for resurfacing, the Athletics South Canterbury All Weather Track Trust, which owns, maintains and administers the facility, has been working on other upgrades, including installing a new hammer cage.
Surface cleaning is part of the initial preparation that is required by the trust prior to installers arriving to install the new surface.
Trust chairman Gordon Ireland and his Fire and Safety Training Ltd employees have spent two weeks water-blasting the entire 400m track, long jump runway and high jump fan, saving the trust thousands of dollars.
The obsolete hammer cage is being replaced, with the new cage installed on a concrete surface — instead of grass — at the north end of the inner field.
The old cage will now be used as a discus cage, as it meets those specifications.
The covers on the four long jump pits have been replaced and the lawn around the long jump runway and pits will be levelled back to the height of the new track surface.
The entire project is expected to take two years, as funding allows.
An essential upgrade of wiring for electronic equipment is to begin shortly and will be completed in time for the annual Lovelock Classic meeting and the South Island Colgate Games in January.
Once those are completed, the facility will be closed for the rest of the summer season to allow work on the track and other scheduled work to be carried out.
The trust plans to have an official opening once resurfacing has been completed.
It wanted to thank all the funders including the athletic clubs of Geraldine, Waimate and Temuka, local business Heartland Chips, and others, as without the local support the facility would not be able to be kept up to the expected standard for events.
