By Utamu Belle
Assistant Director of Sport Melissa Dow-Richardson has announced that instead of a four or six lane synthetic track proposed for Linden, the community is on the cards to receive an eight lane synthetic track, complete with security fencing.
She made the disclosure on Tuesday, as she, along with a team comprising officials of the Public Infrastructure Special Projects team and the Buildings team within the Ministry of Education made their third site visit to discuss the synthetic track in the presence of Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland. Evaluation works continue to move apace on the setting up of synthetic track, slated to be constructed at the Bayroc Ground at Wismar. According to Dow-Richardson, the team is working towards completion of the track by this year-end.
“What I can say is that this project is unique…the company responsible for it, they’ve already sent in their consultants, they’ve already sent in their engineer and they have done evaluation…the site identified is suitable, it’s actually quite welcoming. They’re expecting us to forward the surveys to them…and we have a hope and expectation to begin work in this region within this first quarter, certainly in February,” she said.
The Assistant Director of Sport added that she foresees the Linden track creating an environment for competitive development and training among national athletes in a high altitude environment. Mayor Holland, who had initially proposed a six-lane track, noted how ecstatic he was by the news. He said this will boost the sports capacity in Linden tremendously.
“If you’re looking at development, we need an eight-lane track. That would give us full competition standard…We can have the National Championships there…I know this will be very impactful for Linden as we can now look at our timings effectively. We have the second fastest 400-meter runner in the world in Linden…We have Compton Caesar and they’re expected to be heading to the Commonwealth Games, these things will help them for international meets…With the eight-lane, we can do well. With Linden being a sports loving community, we can host international meets,” he pointed out.
Holland further proposed for a training centre, an upgraded pavilion and a football area during the discourse on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Menthis of the Public Infrastructure Ministry Special Projects unit said the team will focus on having the ground totally surveyed and the soil tested. A team was expected to visit the site on Wednesday to conduct tests.
