New Indoor 400m Track on the West Coast

Unfortunately, it’s in Anchorage, Alaska.

The article claims to be the continent’s only indoor full-size, 400-meter track training facility that is actually intended for track and field.

Imagine that, building a track for other sports (or final exams before Christmas break!)

In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, there is the Louis Riel Dome Indoor Track which is a 4 lane, 400 meter track with 6 lanes of 110 meter “mondo” running track straightaways.

In Vancouver, BC, we have the Harry Jerome Complex, but it’s used for Volleyball and Judo. There used to be an indoor cycling track, but I think it’s removed.

Here is the link to the full article on adn.com and the official press release from goseawolves.com.

For decades Seawolves runners, jumpers and throwers held practice on treadmills, adjacent to the hockey rink and in the gymnasium at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

“Really sub-par when it comes to a university,” 18th-year UAA coach Michael Friess said. “We were in the gym throwing into tarps, putting holes in the wall, making dents in the floor. We were knocking things around because we had no other place to train.”

That all changed Monday as the Seawolves’ track and field athletes practiced for the first official time in The Dome in south Anchorage.

Believed to house the continent’s only indoor full-size, 400-meter track, UAA now has access to a training facility that is actually intended for track and field.

“To be honest, this facility constitutes a deal-breaker,” Friess said. “If we hadn’t got this facility, then the program would really have been put in dire straits.

“Any university will tell you that success is facility-generated. You build facilities, you attract top athletes, you attract business to the university, end of story.”

After years of training athletes in the cramped confines of the Sports Complex on campus, Friess believes The Dome will allow the Seawolves to attain greater success.

“We did very well (in the old facility),” he said. “We sent five people to the national championships last year. The vast majority of track and field programs don’t send anybody.

“But if we’re going to continue to develop, if we’re going to continue to attract the athletes we need to attract, if we’re going to really give Anchorage what it really deserves, we needed a facility like this.”

Now when the Seawolves head to McMinnville, Ore., for the Linfield Icebreaker meet in March, their athletes won’t be running on a full-size track for the first time this season. The throwers won’t be letting fly without being restricted by a net. The jumpers will have weeks of practice in a regulation setup.