1 week Ago By Tom Wildie
When teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout lines up for the 200 metres at the WA Athletics Stadium in the Australian championships this week, there will be anticipation of a blistering time. The 17-year old has already run the fastest official time in the world this year with 20.05 seconds, but has also dipped below the 20 second mark with a hefty tailwind.
Perth’s premier athletics track is considered “fast”, and there is a feeling the teen could set a blistering mark on it. What makes it fast? In the case of Perth, some of it comes down to engineering, and some down to marketing. "There aren't a lot of options (for track surfaces) in our market," said Jarrod Hill, chief executive and director of design consultancy SportENG.
"We often have limited opportunities on how and who and what we can choose. WA Atheltics Stadium has a blue Mondo surface, which is rare in Australia. The WA Athletics Stadium uses a pre-fabricated surface by Italian company, Mondo.
It's one of just a handful of Mondo tracks in the country. Most tracks in Australia use a company called Polytan, which lays tracks on site, and has a factory in Melbourne. Pre-fabricated tracks are where the layers of the track are put together off-site, then put into place, while an 'in-situ' installation requires each layer being laid separately at the venue.
"It's very unusual in our Australian market, outside WA (to use a pre-fabricated surface). I think there's only two tracks that are Mondo on the east coast," Hill said. "WA has historically stuck with Mondo.
" Why is Mondo considered 'fast'? The Italian company has carved a reputation as being the track that results in the fastest times, something Hill said is part engineering, and part marketing. "If you talk to the athletes, the short-distance athletes often prefer the Mondo," he said. Jarrod Hill is an expert in sport and recreation facilities.
"They feel it does give them a better, maybe a little harder surface underfoot, because of the manufacturing there and that in turn gives them a quicker time. "We're talking small percentages. He also said the partnership between World Athletics and Mondo has helped cement the surface's reputation.
Ever since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Mondo has supplied the running track. It has also built the tracks at virtually every Commonwealth Games. "Every time a world record, an Olympic record, is held, the world hears about it because it's on that stage and it's on a Mondo product," Hill said.
Mondo has provided the track for every Olympics since Montreal in 1976, including the Paris Games in 2024. "I think that level of competition is afraid to move away from Mondo as well. Because if you step away and they're slower times, well, then they'll be known as the slow Olympics.
"There's not a lot of literature that probably supports that, because there are world cup records also run on non-Mondo tracks as well." Why is Mondo rare in Australia? SportENG has advised on numerous venues across Australia, including the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games venue. It also advised on the redevelopment of Ern Clarke Athletics Centre in Perth, which hosted the World Masters Games in 2016.
Typically, there are three tiers of track surface to consider when building an athletics stadium. Pre-fabricated and fully polyurethane 'in-situ' systems sit at the top and are used on elite venues. SportENG advised on the construction of the track for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at Carrara.
Below them is a "sandwich system", which is often found at local athletics tracks. That uses a cheaper rubber on the bottom, and a polyurethane top layer. Bottom of the list is a structural spray, which can be found in many schools.
The premium paid for a Mondo track as compared to a polyurethane track laid in-situ is high. Gout Gout has begun to transcend the sport of athletics in Australia, but his surprising loss at the weekend served as a reminder that he's still a teenager and ultimately success is never guaranteed. The pre-fabricated system, made in Italy and then shipped to the location, can cost up to $60-per-square more.
That adds considerable cost to a venue featuring a 10-lane, 420 metre track, including the extra length on the front-straight. But while cost is a consideration, so is the climate in which the track will exist. Hill said an example of that is at the Arafura Stadium in the Northern Territory.
"Because of the high rainfall and higher humidity we have, they've had issues with the full polyurethane system, because water would readily get trapped underneath there and result in bubbles," he said. "We had to go to the sandwich system, which has a base layer of black rubber, which is a bit more permeable, and if any moisture gets trapped in there, it can move horizontally to the drainage system." The replacement cost of Mondo is something also considered.
The tracks typically have a life of 10-years before needing to be replaced, and it's not a cheap endeavour. Will Gout Gout run faster in Perth? Gout has spent most of his career running on a Polytan track in Brisbane. That's the surface he ran his sub-20 second 200 metres on.
Hill said simply competing on a Mondo track isn't a guarantee of faster times. There is hope Gout will run another blistering time in Perth. "Often you sort of see when you go from one surface, train all your time on it and then come on to another one, where that impacts them, versus a local that might have trained always on a Mondo," Hill said.
"It'll be interesting to see if there's any change to his times." The ABC of SPORT.
