How Georgia designed new track facility with wind in mind
If you walk around Georgia’s new track and field facility and feel a strong wind, some of that is simply nature. But some of it is by design.
Optimizing the wind was one of the priorities when building the new complex, which was dedicated Wednesday and offers several major upgrades for men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams.
“From a recruiting standpoint, no one wants to go to a slow track,” said Tanner Stines, associate athletic director for capital planning and auxiliary administration. “You’re practicing all the time. It becomes just as much mental as it is physical. From a hosting standpoint, teams don’t want to go compete at places that it’s not the fastest tracks, because qualifying for postseason track is all based on your times. … You want to have the fastest track in the country, then when you host a meet, everybody’s wanting to come to your meet, because their times are going to be that much better.”
Architects used consultants and placed weather gauges on the site to measure the wind, but also pulled from airports and Environmental Protection Agency weather stations to get years of wind data.
The site was laid out so the wind is at your back at the finish line, with the wind blowing over the top of the Jack Turner Family Complex (home to Georgia softball and soccer), which is directly across the street, and curving around the track facility’s grandstand, per Stines.
Of course, that means there will also be times when the wind is at your front, as Georgia athletic director and noted track dad Josh Brooks pointed out at Wednesday’s dedication ceremony: “I can tell you the first meeting we had, we spent an hour debating wind direction to make sure the wind was hitting in the final 100 (meters), but as my son, who’s a 400-meter runner, will tell you, that means he has to run against the wind for 100 meters as well. So he will complain about that part, but at least you’ll have it to your back on the (homestretch).”
To that point, Stines pointed out, that can be addressed and potentially lessened by modifying the landscape over time, but the idea is to feel a boost when you come out of the curve at the point when you’re feeling tired.
There’s a catch when it comes to how much wind you can use, though: “It can only be so fast before the records don’t count,” Stines said. “So that’s the dialing it in, is how fast to make the wind, and then put landscaping or wind screening or whatever in to break it up just enough so it’s not so fast that the records don’t count.”
The NCAA lists 2.0 meters per second as the threshold.
Construction of the new facility included 30 feet of grade change over 37.24 acres, with 196,667 cubic yards of earth moved.
The 34,700-square-foot complex has a nine-lane, 400-meter Spec Towns Track with infield areas for long jump, triple jump and pole vault, with an adjacent throws field and a shot put arena. It also features a unique five-lane 100-meter indoor warm-up area under the grandstand.
The site will host the Georgia High School Association state championships this year and the SEC outdoor championships in 2027. The aim with the facility is to attract big events, in addition to housing Georgia’s day-to-day practices and meets.
On how the addition of the new facility can help recruiting, it show Georgia’s investment in the sport, according to Georgia director of men’s and women’s track and field Caryl Smith Gilbert.
“I think it will be easier in terms of we have a facility, and people will know that we care about the sport,” Smith Gilbert said. “You don’t build something like this if you don’t really care about track and field, which will make parents comfortable sending their children here to the University of Georgia.”
About the Author
Sarah Spencer, a Georgia native and UGA alum, serves as a general assignment and features writer for sports. She previously covered the Hawks from 2019-22.
