BY DANIA BOGLE

Observer staff reporter

WITH the specialists who will mark the lanes on the track due to arrive tomorrow to begin work this weekend, the repairs to the synthetic running surface at the Stadium East facility are expected to be completed by the end of next week.

General manager of Independence Park Limited (IPL), Major Desmon Brown, told the Observer that rain over the last few days had slowed work which had been projected to be completed by the end of January — six weeks after it began in mid-December.

Work on the track started nearly a year after the completion of work on the larger National Stadium track and is being conducted by German company BSW Regupol, the firm which laid the signature blue track at the National Stadium in February last year.

Repairs on the track, which had been part of the contract with BSW Regupol for work on both the National Stadium and Stadium East, had been delayed for some time which resulted in a 14 per cent increase in the cost from the original figure quoted.

BSW was also responsible for laying the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2010.

Several developmental athletic meets have already been proposed for Stadium East once the track is finished, which will add to the facility being used as a warm-up area for athletes when meets are being held inside the National Stadium.

The facility is also used by several of the country’s elite athletes, including Olympic Games 4x100m gold medallist Michael Frater, Nesta Carter, Asafa Powell and other members of the MVP Track and Field club. Several other track and field clubs around the island use the facility for training as it is one of few synthetic surfaces in the island.

Two weeks ago, national javelin throw record holder Olivia McKoy complained to the Observer that the closure of the facility had severely hampered her ability to train for meets, especially in this crucial Olympic year.