No competitions will be held at the track oval of the Cebu City Sports Complex after the 2024 Palarong Pambansa ends next week.
The oval will be shut down for an indefinite period of time until corrections are made to its design and facilities go through another series of changes.
Officials from both the Department of Education and the Cebu City Sports Commission said a third party will do a remeasuring of the length of the oval and a makeover will be scheduled later on.
The length of the oval is believed to be at 398 meters, two meters short of the prescribed 400 meters, the international standard set by World Athletics.
Cebu City Sports Commission chairman John Pages said this on Saturday, in the presence of Department of Education assistant secretary Francis Cesar Bringas.
“For competitions, we will have to see first if there’s any corrections that we have to make,” said Pages.
He, however, said that the oval will reopen to the public on July 19, but only for recreational use.
Bringas said they are now seeking a re-measurement of the oval after it appeared to fall short of World Athletics’ standard.
Athletics officials have sought a reevaluation of the length of the oval, which is now being used for the running events of the 2024 Palarong Pambansa.
It is believed to have fallen short of the standard distance of 400 meters, which according to Bringas, is a red flag, or a major concern to sports bodies like World Athletics and the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association.
“The resolution is that they will take in a third party to have a more accurate verification of their distance of the entire oval,” said Bringas.
Tournament director Jeanette Obiena earlier told coaches and delegation officials that the oval’s length is at 398 meters, two meters below the prescribed length of World Athletics, the world governing body for track and field sports.
Track officials said that with the situation, no meet record will be recognized on running events that have distances of 400 meters, or more.
Work was still going on to fix the condition of the newly-renovated rubberized track oval at the CCSC, some three days to go before competitions took place.
Two lanes needed to undergo a makeover with visible signs of damage seen on the turf near the finish line.
The CCSC was closed for renovation in May 2023 and completion of the repairs were rushed, days before the Palaro was to start.
