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By Zoe Hsu
Imagine being dressed and ready to run on the track. It was raining heavily the previous day, so you hope the track has dried by then. However, your hopes are crushed when you realize the track is completely flooded. This is one of the problems that athletes have to deal with because our school has a dirt track.
Back when I was in elementary school, I enjoyed walking around the track because it was a great way to chat and exercise with family and friends. However, once I joined Cross Country as a freshman, I realized that the track has numerous problems. Aside from the pools of water that form after a rainy day, I also noticed the dust that bothered my eyes, the impact and stress on my feet after each step and the lack of grip while running.
In addition, several hurdlers in Track and Field last season had painful, bloody cuts when they fell because of our track’s rocky and sandy surface.
Other schools in our league, such as La Cañada, South Pasadena and Rosemead, own an all-weather track made from synthetic turf, which allows athletes to train comfortably and safely. It is quite embarrassing for our school to have an old dirt track, considering the fact that the school provides excellent equipment for other sports. However, I do acknowledge that because we are the only school in the league with a dirt track, other schools are not as used to running on a sandy surface, giving us a home advantage.
As much as I wish to have the track remodeled, the price is an astounding $910,000. Unless a miracle happens, the cost of an all-weather track is beyond the district’s budget.
A realistic solution I suggest is to hold our track with higher regard. The school should maintain the track more frequently because the only time the track is consistently taken care of is during Track season. I understand that building an all-weather track will not happen anytime soon, so I would appreciate it if the school made the track as best as it can be for athletes.