Work on the track was apparently completed just before the Christmas period
Sol Plaatje municipality’s newly laid imitation tartan athletics race track at the Galeshewe Stadium has come in for some pasting by a local club which uses the venue for practice runs.
Refilwe Mabilo (pictured), athlete and founder of the self-named athletics club in Galeshewe, expressed her unhappiness with the quality of the race track surface that was laid by an anonymous sponsor with the blessings of the Sol Plaatje municipality.
Work on the track was apparently completed just before the Christmas period.
This week Mabilo, who had taken her team out on a practice run on the new track, was extremely critical of the quality of the work done.
Mabilo dismissed the track as below standard. She said it was made of a simple sand and cement mixture. She also pointed out that the track had foreign objects sticking out of the surface. These included pieces of brick, plastic, wood, stones and rubble.
Apart from the foreign objects on the surface, the track had no drainage channels which resulted in water puddles forming in many places around the track.
Mabilo said the track was unsafe to use but as she did not have much of a choice she has to soldier on with the substandard track. She said in cases where necessary she will resort to the revamped De Beers stadium track which had a proper tartan track surface even though it would be a strain on her club’s resources.
