Franklin Field – University of Pennsylvania. Home of the Penn Relays.
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Daily Track Pic
Aerial pictures of track & field venues from all over the world.
Franklin Field – University of Pennsylvania. Home of the Penn Relays.
Watching the Penn Relays, I wondered: why is the track divided down the centre?
Brilliant site, by the way – I’d love to run on all these tracks, a different track run a day!
Thanks! I have wondered the same thing, and don’t have an answer for you. I first guess is that because this is an old stadium, the original track most likely was a track measured in yards. When it got switched to meters, they may have not been enough room to expand it. Placing the rail in the center, inside lane 5, would make that lane like a lane 1 on a standard track, 100 full meters. That’s just a guess though, and I have not been to the track in person (yet) to get the full details. I’ll have to do some checking…
Thanks Scott – I figure the conversion from yards to metres might be the most likely explanation.
Of course, it’d be cool if there was some idiosyncratic reason like a superstition or crazy local planning laws!