Stage is set for UA Track program

TUSCON, AZ – When the 2016 outdoor track and field season officially opens, a new stage will be set for the University of Arizona Wildcats. During the off season, the surface at the Roy P. Drachman Track and Field facility underwent a major overhaul.

The stadium’s previous surface was showing signs of weather-related deterioration, which led to the University to opt for a full replacement and upgrade to a Beynon Sports surface.

The venue stands at the forefront of athletic facilities and serves both the university and surrounding community. The esteemed complex is a stand-alone track center, about one mile from the main campus and serves as a host for numerous collegiate competitions as well as the southern Arizona high school track and field community. The stadium, home of the track team since 1981, includes bleacher seating for over 5,000 fans and features a nine-lane, 400 meter, NCAA-Certified track; including competition areas for pole vault, long jump, shot put, discus, hammer throw, javelin and triple jump.

After extensive research, the University selected Beynon Sports’ BSS 2000 polyurethane system, with a fully encapsulated texture. The track oval was poured in “red” and field event areas in “blue”. Considered the ultimate edge in performance, the Beynon BSS 2000 system is IAAF certified, offers athletes maximum energy return and was engineered to perform as well on race day as well as all the training days in between.

University of Arizona’s track is a favored training site for collegiate and international athletes in search of a world-class facility and warm weather.

Director of UA Track and Field, Fred Harvey, has been overseeing the program for several decades and is renowned for developing national and international caliber athletes.

“[The new track] makes for a very forgiving surface in terms of training,” Harvey said. “But it’s also a very fast and responsive surface for competition . . . already we have seen some of the performances that have come on it this year and they have been top marks in the entire country to this point.”

Beynon completed the renovation work in two stages; finishing the field event areas in 2014 and the track oval in the fall of 2015.