ESC wants to host prestigious events
DEPUTY Matt Fallaize has breathed further hope into ‘once in a generation’ plans to expand Footes Lane’s athletics track to eight lanes.
The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture president is committed to refurbishing the track, which was recoated in 2001 and 2013 but has otherwise been largely untouched since its 1991 introduction.
He views the addition of two lanes to the bends and back straight as a cheap add-on to these proposed developments.
‘We now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the facility considerably by creating a full 400m eight-lane track at an additional cost of less than 10 percent of what the essential refurbishment would cost anyway,’ said Fallaize.
‘Footes Lane is one of the island’s premier sports venues and we should be proud of providing our sportsmen and women with great and improving facilities.
‘Athletics is a popular sport with a history of hosting competitors from outside the island. There is no doubt that a fully refurbished 400m eight-lane track will make Guernsey a more attractive proposition for national and international events.
‘All these things considered, the case for an eight-lane track is very strong and my Committee is going to keep pressing the case for it.’
While the Guernsey 2021 NatWest Island Games are an appealing objective, Fallaize confirms that the plans are not tailored to any one competition and rather a response to the track approaching its 30th anniversary.
‘This work would be a matter of priority anyway with or without the Island Games in Guernsey in 2021,’ he said.
‘But the Games have been a factor in determining the best time for the work to be carried out, which has been brought forward by 12-24 months.’
Fallaize also seconded Tom Druce’s earlier comments that extra lanes could make a local Commonwealth Youth Games more viable, noting: ‘The investment we want to make in the track is the kind of investment necessary if we want to host prestigious events, and we should have that ambition.’
He further pointed out that the addition of two extra lanes would simply be to address an issue the facility faced during its initial instalment.
‘When the track was installed in 1991, it was limited to six lanes with an eight-lane finishing straight,’ added Fallaize.
‘This was partly because of space constraints which existed at that time, namely buildings which were in use then and an electricity sub-station.
‘These space constraints disappeared when the buildings were demolished and the sub-station was relocated as part of the development of the Garenne Stand.’
