'I enjoy running, jumping, shouting'

In Fordham Park, New Cross there's a long steel plaque on the ground with some words on it from children at the local Childeric Primary School. The full text is 'I enjoy running, jumping, shouting and singing in an open space'. I do too! I've often run round or through that park. I may have sang in several nearby pubs, but not in the park itself, though I have certainly danced there in some of the wild ravey free festivals there in the 1990s.

When I first moved round here nearly 20 years ago there was actually a (now vanished) running track at the edge of the park. Anyone remember it?

Save Athletics at Tooting Bec

Fresh on the heels of the news that Crystal Palace athletics is under threat from the Mayor of London, concerns have been raised about another South London track. Tooting Bec Athletics Track has been a feature of running in that part of London since the 1930s, with the current synthetic track being opened in 1985. Today it is the home of Herne Hill Harriers, among other users.

Wandsworth Council, which currently runs the track, has announced that as part of its budget cuts it is 'exploring possible new management proposals for the Tooting Bec athletics track in a bid to secure its long term future. Next month councillors are likely to consider proposals that could involve seeking expressions of interest from local sports clubs, voluntary groups, charities and health and fitness professionals who could take over the day-to-day running of the track and all its amenities'.

While the Council is presenting this as being about 'safeguarding the future' of the track, they have refused to guarantee that it won't close down if nobody else steps forward to take over running it. There also worries that if it is privatised the costs of using the facilities could increase. A campaign to save the track has been launched, with a petition and a rally yesterday. More than 200 people turned out at the track with banners reading 'Keep it Open and Affordable'.

(photo from HHH Triathlon on twitter) 

Wandsworth Council has also been criticised by runners recently for refusing to allow parkrun events in its parks without charging a fee. Other London councils are not charging because they recognise that these free, volunteer-led runs are attracting people to the parks at relatively quiet times of day and bring health and social benefits to the local community.

Save Athletics at Crystal Palace

The athletics stadium at the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace park was until recently the Wembley of British track and field, where large crowds gathered to watch big international events. Many of the greatest athletes in the world ran in the London Grand Prix events held there between 1953 to 2012 (though the park's association with athletics goes back much further - see this race report from 1873).

 Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt, Conrad Williams and Tyson Gay at Crystal Palace in 2007
(photo from Conrad Williams on Twitter) 

Now the fight is on to save any athletics provision in the park as a result of changes proposed by the Greater London Authority, which is currently responsible for the National Sports Centre site.

Under proposals being consulted on by the Mayor London, the 17,000 capacity stadium would be demolished entirely. While a swimming pool would be retained, barely any consideration has been given to the future of athletics. The indoor track would be 'permanently removed', while the possibility of retaining an outdoor 'community athletics track' is unpromisingly described merely as 'currently under review'.

The stadium itself is arguably surplus to requirements since the opening of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. There is a broader issue of how poorly sporting authorities promote athletics as a spectator sport, and I am sure there is sufficient interest in London to get good crowds for more than one event every year or two (the frequency of Diamond League events at Stratford). But it is undeniable that at present Crystal Palace is under-used as a stadium - although a smaller pavillion/stand would be quite feasible as long as a track continues.

The loss of track(s) would be much more catastrophic, effectively ending any use of the park for serious athletics. A community track would be a great asset to the new school(s) planned to replace the stadium, as well as to the local clubs and others who use the current facilities, including South London Harriers and Crystal Palace Triathletes.  

If athletics is going to flourish in this country we need mass participation and a network of good, accessible clubs and tracks across the country that can sustain a vibrant running culture at all levels - as well as enabling the next generation of potential elite athletes to be engaged, identified and supported. The mass participation side has really taken off through parkrun, and an increasing number are taking the next step on to the track to train with their local running club. The so-called Olympic legacy is looking very fragile if this progress  is going to be undermined by losing facilities in places like Crystal Palace and elsewhere (this year we have already lost the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffiled despite a campaign to save it)

A campaign to save athletics in the park has been launched, spearheaded by well-known coach John Powell. Please do go and sign the petition as well as responding to the consultation (which runs until 16 November). The petition states: 

'Save Athletics - and sport - at Crystal Palace. Current plans threaten to bulldoze the iconic athletics stadium and indoor training track, and rebuild sporting facilities in the glass recreation centre building. The impact of this on track and field in London, let alone other sports could be disastrous. What IS the Olympic Legacy for South London?! The Crystal Palace Sports Partnership (CPSP) is a group of stakeholders who are combining to form one unified voice representing all interests in the future of this historic site. Our mission is simple: 

......We support a mixed-use sports and leisure centre at Crystal Palace - a sustainable facility that is shared by the local community, schools, clubs and aspiring athletes at all levels.  It should be a resource that caters for the needs of recreational users as much as it provides for and supports the development of the next generation of Olympic athletes. We are concerned that the consultation by the GLA for repurposing the current National Sports Centre is way too short and has failed to identify and consider the needs and views of existing users.  We request that user groups and local stakeholders are more thoroughly engaged in shaping the outcome of this process.

For further information please contact The CPSP Chairman, John Powell MBE, via trackspeed1@hotmail.com' 

Mo Farah (left) in the 5000m in the London Grand Prix/Diamond League
at Crystal Palace, July 2012.

South of England Athletic Association speaks out

In their response, the South of England Athletic Association (SEAA)  says:

'The South of England Athletic Association (SEAA) represents and provides competition for all the athletes and athletic clubs within the whole of the area.  We have considered the outline proposals and condemn any plan that removes the athletic facilities.  We accept that the Olympic Stadium provides a fitting setting for televised major meetings but it is inappropriate for the many lower level meetings and is certainly not available as a training venue.  Track and field athletics is a summer sport with all year round training needs so an indoor track is essential in winter.  Crystal Palace fulfils the requirements for track and field athletes from both clubs and schools.  As a facility that has been regularly used for training, local club and school meetings and SEAA Championships over many years any redevelopment should take account of these needs.  As a major competition provider we believe that complete removal of this facility would be severely detrimental to athletes and athletics in London and the surrounding areas.

We propose that the following would ensure the centre meets those needs:

- A full 8 lane track is maintained together with all field event facilities such as long jump pits and pole vault bed.
- A new up to 1000 seat stand is built incorporating changing rooms, equipment stores and administration areas.
- A photofinish “tower” is appended to the stand to allow meetings up to national level to be accommodated.
- At least a 100m indoor straight and field event facilities should be incorporated in the design of one of the new buildings.  This may be an opportunity to build a full 200m indoor track for the whole of London south of the river' (3 November 2014).

Crystal Place Park - the wider picture

One of the ironies of the Crystal Palace proposals is the role of one time runner at the track, Sebastian Coe - he ran his final UK competitive 800m there in 1989. Coe is now Executive Chairman of sports management consultants CSM Strategic, and they have been paid to conduct the consultation on the future of the site. Coe was a great runner, and a competent sports administrator, but lets not forget he is also a Conservative politician (as MP and now Lord) and businessman...

...And there are some very big business interests involved in the future of Crystal Palace. As Inside Croydon has documented, the plans for the sports stadium are strongly influenced by plans by billionaire developer Zhong Rong to build a replica of the original Palace on the terraces at the top of the park, complete with hotel, shops and conference centre. A GLA document  on the sports centre states that “The success of the proposed new Palace is inextricably linked to its wider landscape" and demolition of the stadium would open up the sightline from the planned development.

The sphinx looks across at the floodlights of the Crystal Palace stadium

For many of us the melancholic terraces with their lonely statues looking out across the park are one of the best parts of Crystal Palace, and keeping them as they are is certainly preferable to the kitsch monstrosity proposed by the developers and championed by Johnson. If the 'new Palace' goes ahead it will not only grab public land for private profit but also damage sports and other provision in the wider park. It is not just the running tracks that are under threat in the long term - the Crystal Palace parkrun route, and the perimeter road used for triathlon and cycling events, both enter into the part of the park most affected by the planned development, and new access roads could also disrupt these routes. The park itself risks becoming reshaped as a back garden for a commercial enterprise rather than continuing as a multi-use space at the heart of South London sports and athletics.

Friday photos (11): Running tracks from space

People have speculated for many years about the 'Nazca lines', a series of prehistoric geometrical figures in the Peruvian desert. Images of them taken from airplanes have been used to support various theories, most famously the claim by Eric von Daniken that they were messages meant for alien spaceships! I much prefer the explanation arrived at by one G.A.von Breunig that they were actually running tracks (there's apparently a 1980 article of his entitled 'Nazca: a pre-Columbian Olympic site' though I haven't been able to track it down).

Nazca lines

But what would space travellers or future archaeologists make of modern day running tracks? Thanks to Google Earth we can spend hours looking at satellite images of these mysterious ovals, overlaid with the strange markings of track and field. Here's a few examples I'm familiar with.

Icknield High School, Luton - I went to this school and remember running the 1500m around it. In fact I can still remember coming second with a time of 5:52 (quickly calculating that equates to about a 19:30 5k, about a minute faster than the taller, older me manages over that longer distance all these years later). The track is painted lines on grass, wonder how many times over the decades somebody has retraced the lines, and wonder too how many kids have run around it.  On this photograph you can make out the tiny dots of the runners, seemingly running a relay. Seems the picture was taken on the afternoon of Tuesday 30 June 2009, so if you had PE on that day it could be you! The overlapping oval of the cricket pitch can be seen too, with the wicket inside the running track.The marshy area at the top of the image was part of our cross country route:

Haberdashers Aske's playing fields, off St Asaphs Road,London SE4. My children had their primary school sports days there. Another grass track, with lots of other markings presumably related to javelin and shot put:

Ladywell Arena in Lewisham, home to Kent Athletics Club:

Southwark Park running track. The geometric design is some kind of temporary cover, the facility being currently  in poor condition and hardly used. Good news is that Southwark Council agreed last month to spend £2.6m to refurbish it:

Previously in the Friday Photos series:

New York High School Runners 1970s

Lilian Board, 1948-1970
Running in Tel Aviv 1942
Alan Turing the Runner

Marilyn Monroe the Runner
Tom Longboat, Canadian First Nations Marathon Runner
Runners in Space: an image from Munich 1972 on NASA's Voyager spacecraft

Jim Peters collapses in Vancouver 1954

Anita Neil - Britain's first female Black Olympian?

Running in the Streets of New Cross 1953