by weetoonplodder » Wed Mar 12, 2014 2:40 am
While id be the first in the queue to demand a descent running track/surface for Campbeltown and agree that yes we do lack some sporting facilities, we are really no different than a lot of small towns and population wise, it would be hard to justify this. Yes there is the geographical issue with us living so far away from Glasgow and having limited access to professional sporting facilities, but Arran, Islay, Jura, Gigha, Mull and a lot of other Islands and small to medium Town's in Scotland are no different than us.
There is no reason why a premanent marked grass track cannot be in place on the sports fields of the new school if there is still a sports field on the upper school level (forget the lower field because its got more lumps and bumps and soggy areas that Id care to mention on here, another failed drainage job), that is if the school is being rebuilt on the existing site, all that is required is for the field is flat and properly drained. A grass field does have one advantage in that when you do run on it you are running true, where as when you run on a synthetic or hard surface ur getting the kickback/bounce therefore the training is not as effective as running on grass because u have to put less effort into getting there.
As it stands there is no reason why a permanently marked track cannot be marked out on the large playground of the existing school, Id be very surprised if there would be that much difference in size if u were to put to a 350m-400m x 2 lane marked area with the possible addition of a 4, 6 or 8 lane 100m straight marked area, as much as this might not be the perfect solution its probably the best that we will get.
Personally I think that the boat was missed when Kinloch Green was redeveloped and one should have went there at the same time, just a bit like the redevelopment of Wembley when a running track was omitted there and which would have saved the tax payer millions on the money that was used for the Olympic Park Stadium which now Ironically has been handed over to a football team for next to nothing while they get to sell their own ground and pocket the profits, just another waste of public funds.
Unfortunately this saga goes back a long number of years, if truth be told, nearly 20 years ago there was a meeting in Campbeltown Town Hall where the public/members of sports groups were invited along to discuss the proposal of a new sports complex for a town on the West Coast Of Scotland, the idea being that the town that came up with the best ideas would be considered for a new state of the art sports complex. Well I and a number of others from various sports within the town including 2 P E teachers attended this meeting of some local councillors and architects/planners and people from Sport Scotland etc and I have to say that it was very much one sided with, "we want this", and "we need this and that" for a certain well supported sport in the town, there was no come and go for facilities for other minority sports in the town, the floor was very much divided and some clearly had their heads and neck stuck very deep in the sand, after much debate and getting nowhere the meeting was over and nothing as far as Campbeltown was concerned came of it (I don't know about other areas) but one thing I can tell you is that if I had been one of those on the panel i'd have never given anything to us either, because there was no Solidarity (SOLIDARNOSC), certainly nothing that Lech Walesa would have been proud of, this was our chance to unite and possibly get something and we blew it through pure narrow mindedness by a select few. One big question that was asked at this meeting was the funding of it, having used various private facilities outside of town I suggested that a monthly charge of £30-£40 per member would be required to sustain this, but this was laughed off as being ridiculous by some who thought that this was way too expensive to be charging people, how ironic is it though, to think that now people are paying exactly that and more for just a pool and multi gym at the Aqualibrium when there was a lot more being put on the table at the time.
Unfortunately the fact that we have the best half marathon in the UK/Scotland doesn't cut it, its fantastic that MOK Run have been voted for and has won this title in Runners World so often and its fantastic that the continued effort that the organizers of the MOK Run put into it keeps it up there and gives the whole area a high profile, this accolade is not new, even the half marathons we had in the 80's were being ranked in the top UK races in Scotland Runner Magazine and this was when the original running boom was on the go, but even that is no justification for having a state or semi state of the art running track in Campbeltown.
Campbeltown and the surrounding area has some of the best natural and varied running facilities ull find anywhere in the UK which has served myself and a great deal of others for more years than I and probably they care to remember, and by variation or running on these different surfaces you will get more out of that than a new running track at the proposed new secondary school.
But the questions that need to be asked is do we need another G2, G3 or G4 (personally I thought that was internet download stuff)football surface in the town if they are thinking of installing one at the new school when we already have on on Kinloch Green which is owned by the same council as the school
Another is, why not take the £750,000+ that is supposed to be put aside for the renovation of the Old Campeltown Court in Bolgam street and put it to better use than renovating that lost cause (yes im well aware its from a different fund, but ultimately it comes from central government/our taxes)
weetoonplodder
In Hot And Very Sticky lagos