Concerns over facility

ATHLETICS Papua New Guinea (APNG) has expressed concerns to the Sir John Guise Stadium management about serious damage to the track caused by measures taken to prepare the field for rugby league and soccer games.
Artificial turf left around the field holds water and blocks access to drains, thereby causing the synthetic track to lift from its base.
APNG president Tony Green said these concerns had been raised with the former chief executive last April and he was disappointed to see during a recent visit that instead of being removed after each game, the turf had been fixed to the track on a semi-permanent basis.
“Three lanes of the track are completely covered in the straights,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“The new track laid in Lae for the 2014 PNG Games deteriorated very rapidly because of poor drainage and we are now seeing the same sort of damage in Port Moresby.
“The life of the track can be extended with proper care and maintenance.
“Some of these issues go back to the planning of the Sir John Guise Complex.
“Athletics doesn’t need a big stadium and there is evidence all over the world showing what happens to athletics tracks after a major games when soccer and rugby are the only sports that can fill stadiums on a regular basis.
“The kind of facility that was built in Kimbe for the PNG Games is ideal for athletics and something like this could have been built at the Sir John Guise Stadium on what was the warm-up area for the 2015 Games.