400m Running Tracks in Ireland

siobhan08

Hi

I’m doing a college assignment and need some help.

I’m looking to get the locations for the 400 meter running tracks around the country

I’m looking for the red tracks. Think they are mondo or tartan

I know of

• Morton Stadium
• Irish Town
• Claremont Stadium Navan
• I.T Sligo
• Mardyke Arena
• University of Limerick
• NUIG - Dangan
  

Can anybody tell me if I got them all or are there any that I’m missing?

aquinn

I think there is a running track here:

https://www.alsaa.ie/facilities/

Drogheda too I believe.

http://www.droghedaanddistrictac.com/gallery.html

siobhan08

aquinn wrote: »

I think there is a running track here:

https://www.alsaa.ie/facilities/

Yep seems to be when I google map.


If anybody else knows of any other others. I would greatly appreciate it

Wottle

Tallaght A.C.
Finn Valley in Donegal but it's blue
Kilcoole A.C. in Greystones
Le Cheile
Tullamore
Athlone

loudymacloud

AIT has one

TheBully

Ballina Athletic club in mayo too, it’s the old track on google maps, a new red track was added in late 2015

https://www.facebook.com/ballina.fitforlife/photos/a.656120741157609.1073741828.614624135307270/1067672196669126/?type=3

coco0981

An riocht in castleisland have a track

siobhan08

Thank you guys.

What standard are the tracks mentioned?

Doing an overview of the facilities available for high performance elite athletes. Want to see where are the facilities that can cater for high performance athletes outside of Dublin.

Chivito550

Templemore
Waterford
Mary Peters Belfast
Greystones
Leixlip

confusticated

CIT have one.

Krusty_Clown

Jumping the gun had a list. Probably not updated, but I suspect there hasn't been much change.

RayCun

siobhan08 wrote: »

Thank you guys.

What standard are the tracks mentioned?

Doing an overview of the facilities available for high performance elite athletes. Want to see where are the facilities that can cater for high performance athletes outside of Dublin.

outside Dublin...
Athlone IT and Tullamore are in good condition, used regularly for competition
can't comment on the others

chasingpaper

Letterkenny (tartan, good condition)
Lifford (Mondo I think)

Euppy

St Colman's College Newry (Not on google maps)
Bush post primary school Cooley

ultrapercy

Claremorris and Ballina

Working class heroes

Enniscorthy?

average_runner

Working class heroes wrote: »

Enniscorthy?

Yep, a brand new one.

pconn062

The Louth County Council owned track in Drogheda is in very good condition. Good changing facilities/parking etc.

adrian522

There's one in Kilkenny too.

http://www.thewatershed.ie/watershed-facilities-hire-athletic-track/

Chivito550

siobhan08 wrote: »

Thank you guys.

What standard are the tracks mentioned?

Doing an overview of the facilities available for high performance elite athletes. Want to see where are the facilities that can cater for high performance athletes outside of Dublin.

You’ll probably have to see them for yourself to make an assessment on them. Many people have different standards regarding how good or bad a track is (sprinters and distance runners prefer different type of surfaces to each other).

Personally, the best outdoor ones are Santry, Belfast, Waterford, Athlone, Tullamore (to a lesser degree).

The others I’ve run on aren’t up to much. Leixlip is ok but slow for sprinters, Greystones is worn and 6 lane only, Templemore is worn, Tallaght is even more so, Irishtown is appalling, ALSAA a health hazard, UL in Limerick a disgrace.

Majority of tracks built against prevailing winds too which is needless and frustrating. This means 100/200 runners face more headwinds than tailwinds in the long run.

chasingpaper

Despite UL being a disgrace Barr managed 4th in Rio. Maybe for training the facilities only need to be adequate/ok as long as the coaching and talent is good enough. Is it possible levels of coaching are holding us back more than the lack of facilities? In fairness UL does offer the chance to sprint indoors which is welcome this time of year!

Testosterscone

chasingpaper wrote: »

Despite UL being a disgrace Barr managed 4th in Rio. Maybe for training the facilities only need to be adequate/ok as long as the coaching and talent is good enough. Is it possible levels of coaching are holding us back more than the lack of facilities? In fairness UL does offer the chance to sprint indoors which is welcome this time of year!

Facilities go beyond just a track though look at some of the clubs providing top athletes there is a common team that many of them (DSD,Raheny to name a few) to be fair we are at a stage now where need to go one step further and develop the environment around facilities.

The coaching element is an ongoing discussion in the sport at moment despite 60,000 member s there is only one coach employed by AAI as a coach the rest are volunteers (every one of our Olympians last year had a volunteer coach)

Building infrastructures around coaches will provide more bang for buck regarding improving of standards the likes of the Donnie Walshes, the Cahills, the Harrison's, The Dick Hoopers, the Jerry Kiernans.

Testosterscone

We are not the only country though and it doesn't stand in the way of top athletes shining. Laura Muir regularly does her gym work in a local commercial budget gym.

Oiriallach

Some of the tracks people have mentioned don't cater for all events. Some of them don't have facilities for events such as steeplechase, pole vault, discus and hammer.

siobhan08

Oiriallach wrote: »

Some of the tracks people have mentioned don't cater for all events. Some of them don't have facilities for events such as steeplechase, pole vault, discus and hammer.

would you be able to give me the names of the places that could cater for all athletics disciplines?

Thank you everyone else for the names of places

Oiriallach

I think these tracks cater for all events, based on National League or national/provincial championships having held there in recent years. I'd say there are others with which I'm not familiar.

Belfast
Antrim
Sligo
Santry
Tallaght
Tullamore
Athlone
Templemore (Co. Tipperary)
Waterford
Cork IT

Chivito550

chasingpaper wrote: »

Despite UL being a disgrace Barr managed 4th in Rio. Maybe for training the facilities only need to be adequate/ok as long as the coaching and talent is good enough. Is it possible levels of coaching are holding us back more than the lack of facilities? In fairness UL does offer the chance to sprint indoors which is welcome this time of year!

Barr also has had recurring injury problems. No idea if it is related to the track at UL though.

martyboy48

Basic track in Westside in Galway. Open to public. Wouldn't be suitable for any events really as it has a slight incline and outside lane has a spot where local scrotes lit a fire on it :mad::mad:

OK for general training purposes though.....

(Don't think there is any lighting around it either AFAIK...)

raiders11

Shercock ac in Cavan have a 400m track, well, had a few years ago anyhow..

Enduro

Bangor, co Down. You'd like that one Chivito.

Murph_D

Chivito550 wrote: »

You’ll probably have to see them for yourself to make an assessment on them. Many people have different standards regarding how good or bad a track is (sprinters and distance runners prefer different type of surfaces to each other).

Personally, the best outdoor ones are Santry, Belfast, Waterford, Athlone, Tullamore (to a lesser degree).

The others I’ve run on aren’t up to much. Leixlip is ok but slow for sprinters, Greystones is worn and 6 lane only, Templemore is worn, Tallaght is even more so, Irishtown is appalling, ALSAA a health hazard, UL in Limerick a disgrace.

Majority of tracks built against prevailing winds too which is needless and frustrating. This means 100/200 runners face more headwinds than tailwinds in the long run.

Interested in this assessment - there have certainly been major problems in the last 18 months but I think the track is pretty OK now for most purposes. Maybe not for the sprinting community?

Chivito550

Murph_D wrote: »

Interested in this assessment - there have certainly been major problems in the last 18 months but I think the track is pretty OK now for most purposes. Maybe not for the sprinting community?

It’s grand for training on but I don’t touch it for races. It’s constantly peeling and being patched up Craggy Island style.

Back in Black

raiders11 wrote: »

Shercock ac in Cavan have a 400m track, well, had a few years ago anyhow..

It’s a 300 meter track in Shercock. Peace link in Clones has a 400m track.

Testosterscone

Chivito550 wrote: »

Barr also has had recurring injury problems. No idea if it is related to the track at UL though.

Chivito550 wrote: »

It’s grand for training on but I don’t touch it for races. It’s constantly peeling and being patched up Craggy Island style.

Holy hypocrisy batman 😂

I know it's personal opinion but I feel you may be being a little overly critical of some facilities and a bit biased based off your own racing experience.

For example many people would say that Morton stadium is one of best kept facilities however the surface while good for racing ultimately can be harder on the body compared to the likes of some of the softer tracks.

Chivito550

Testosterscone wrote: »

Holy hypocrisy batman 😂

I know it's personal opinion but I feel you may be being a little overly critical of some facilities and a bit biased based off your own racing experience.

For example many people would say that Morton stadium is one of best kept facilities however the surface while good for racing ultimately can be harder on the body compared to the likes of some of the softer tracks.

Not really. Irishtown is soft hence good for training. UL seemed very hard the one time I trained there, quite like ALSAA, and not the good type of hard like a Mondo track.

Agree re training on Mondo tracks by the way.

But I make no apologies for my comments on irishtown and UL. Holes in a track are simply not acceptable.

ger664

Lees road in Ennis

average_runner

How much guidance does athletics Ireland give when councils are building these tracks?

RayCun

average_runner wrote: »

How much guidance does athletics Ireland give when councils are building these tracks?

As much as they are asked for would be my guess.

Oiriallach

Of course most athletes don't need a track with facilities for all disciplines in order to train - they just need one that's good enough for their event. Track in Drogheda, for example, has shot putt circle but no discus/hammer circle, while the opposite is the case in Newry.

average_runner

RayCun wrote: »

As much as they are asked for would be my guess.

Explains alot

Back in Black

average_runner wrote: »

Explains alot

Genuine question. How many tracks around the country have been provided by councils?

ultrapercy

average_runner wrote: »

Explains alot

Is it the AIs responsibility/remitt to provide advice on track building? Im sure its a specialist area of construction and certain companies do it to what ever standard is required by the client. Most regional tracks wont have all the trimmings because of funding issues. While Im no cheerleader for the AI, I find the rush to harsh judgement on every issue a bit much, they cant micro manage the affairs of every club in the country. Im sure if they are approached for advice they will point in the right direction.

average_runner

ultrapercy wrote: »

Is it the AIs responsibility/remitt to provide advice on track building? Im sure its a specialist area of construction and certain companies do it to what ever standard is required by the client. Most regional tracks wont have all the trimmings because of funding issues. While Im no cheerleader for the AI, I find the rush to harsh judgement on every issue a bit much, they cant micro manage the affairs of every club in the country. Im sure if they are approached for advice they will point in the right direction.

I would of thought that when a club was looking to a new track with funding from the council or fund raising that AI would offer some advice. In the end it's the club that is providing the athletes for AI.

average_runner

Back in Black wrote: »

Genuine question. How many tracks around the country have been provided by councils?

Most tracks in dublin including santry at one stage but not sure about now.

Testosterscone

average_runner wrote: »

Most tracks in dublin including santry at one stage but not sure about now.

Tallaght wasn't

Pretty sure Santry wasn't either (though has been managed by fingal CC last few years)

ALSAA is private

Irishtown is council run

Don't think Donore was

average_runner

Testosterscone wrote: »

Tallaght wasn't

Pretty sure Santry wasn't either (though has been managed by fingal CC last few years)

ALSAA is private

Irishtown is council run

Don't think Donore was

Was the land for tallaght not provided by the council when the two clubs merged?
Were there no grants from the council for tallaght track also?

Lucan is owned by the council and council will provided a lump sum and the contractor for the track has to go through their tender process.
The rest is getting raised by the club.

I did say most not all in dublin.

TheBigGreen

Westside Running Track, Galway. 6 lanes.

RayCun

average_runner wrote: »

I would of thought that when a club was looking to a new track with funding from the council or fund raising that AI would offer some advice. In the end it's the club that is providing the athletes for AI.

I'm sure they provide what advice they can, if and when they are asked for it.

If they aren't asked, should they be dropping in on council meetings and club committee meetings and complaining about not being invited?

average_runner

RayCun wrote: »

I'm sure they provide what advice they can, if and when they are asked for it.

If they aren't asked, should they be dropping in on council meetings and club committee meetings and complaining about not being invited?

They could open communication with the club, email isn't that hard and if the club decides not to follow up on it then that's their problem.



Maybe they are doing this.

RayCun

Clubs are not branches of Athletics Ireland, it isn't like a company that is run from the top down.

It's a federation. Clubs are the primary unit of athletics organisation.