SportGroup

REKORTAN - 2020 YEAR IN REVIEW NEWS & STORIES TRADITIONAL & FAST TRACK SYSTEMS WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD WORLD CLASS SURFACES FOR MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS JULY 28, 2020 Major sporting events are huge construction endeavours and sport surfaces are at their centre. We spoke to Shaun Goudie, Head of Major Global Events for Sports Group to find out what it really takes to deliver world class surfaces for some of the most unique and challenging events in the world. 1. You led the sport surface construction for the 2018 Asian Games and 2019 South East Asian Games. What did that experience teach you about what's required and what it takes to get it right? Our job was to provide World Athletics Class 1 certified tracks for both the Asian and South East Asian Games while the stadiums were still being built. Delivering flawless surfaces in these conditions requires huge coordination. We worked alongside multiple contractors, architects, engineers and consultants as part of a major infrastructure build and the margin for error was tiny – in literal terms we're talking a plus or minus 3mm margin when it comes to the tracks. So, the sport surfaces absolutely cannot be treated in isolation and being involved from a very early stage in the infrastructure planning is crucial. Whilst the event architects understand the World Athletics requirements, for example, they don't always see the smaller details, like the drainage requirements of the tracks. If we're involved from the beginning of the project we can ensure these details aren't overlooked and minimise the risk of issues at the point the surfaces are being laid – usually towards the very end of the construction when the time pressure is greater than ever. This is a working principle we have taken into all of our major event work, not least the hockey pitches for Tokyo 2020 where we have been involved with the FIH and TOCOG at a very early stage to advise on the field of play design and sign off on both the design and the construction works before the pitch is laid. 2. Large multisport events like these are actually pretty unique. How valuable is comparable experience when it comes to providing surface solutions to these sorts of major events? I can't impress enough the value of a genuine and proven understanding of how these events work. They are unique and it takes a unique specialism to deliver them on time and to the standard required. Take the Olympics - there are just so many moving parts and therefore being a surfacing company alone isn't enough. There are very few companies globally who have the skillset, resources and experience needed to design, construct and manage these types of projects. You don't know what you don't know, but the experience of major multisport events we have built up means we know what questions to ask and we see the small things that can become big issues later on if they are not tackled at source. Ultimately our role is about mitigating risk for clients who are shouldering the responsibility of delivering a global sporting event with all of the athlete performance requirements, stakeholder expectation and financial pressure that entails. They can't afford to take risks, and so experience is everything. 3. Major events are also major construction projects. In what ways does your expertise need to extend beyond the track/ field of play? The fact is that the track is the focal point, not the stadium. So, to get the centre stage of the event right, there needs to be an inside- out approach to planning the infrastructure because the track or field of play influences almost everything else in the build despite going in last. Where the track has to work around the infrastructure, not the other way round, you can run into fundamental issues, particularly when it comes to fixed structures. For example, I've been involved in a project where we had no input into the design of the timing system which meant that there was no provision for housing the cameras on the finish line. Building this retrospectively costs time and money and can mean that power cables which should have been run underground have to be placed over ground. It goes without saying that running spikes and cables don't mix so this type of oversight can hurt an event. continued | 32 |

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