Saturday, March 15, 2008

168th Street Armory in Washington Heights


When I was a Wabash College I met the track coach. He is in his 60s and used to run the 300 at the horrible armory that many of us grew up with. He told me that there is now a beautiful modern track there. Hard to believe, isn't it? The image above can be seen at:
You might find this even more amazing when you read this piece from the New York Times:
Even more amazing, the National Track & Field Hall of Fame is now located in the building. Honest! See: http://www.armorytrack.com/index.php?p=hall.
I thought it was in Indianapolis where the USATF is headquartered.
If thirty years ago I had told you that this was going to come to pass, you would have told me that I was nuts. Amazing!

1 comment:

Former Runner said...

I have many memories of meets at the old armory when it was a National Guard facility and the running surface was an old wood gym floor with oil stains from the vehicles that were parked on it. I think I still have some scars from splinters after getting tripped up in a 600 yard race my senior year of high school. The Armory was one of those horrible places to run but it had a great history. Warming up was always difficult because the only available spaces were a couple of short hallways. If you weren't tripping over other runners, than for sure you would run into homeless people taking refuge there. You didn't dare go outside to warm up.

What a difference it is now. It's great to see a first class facility in the old place and the money and support to back it up. I have not seen the new Armory but would like to one of these days if I get the chance. At least the place has become a first class venue and runners can actually turn in quality performances.

Dave