https://www.worldathletics.org/about-iaaf/documents/technical-information
Clicking on this link gives you access to a number of documents covering all the issues involved in official competitions, some of them in several languages, although most are available only in English. If you also enjoy reading, you will find enough material to keep you busy for several days and even weeks.
The main document to be taken into account when designing a stadium for athletics competitions is the World Athletics Track and Field Facilities Manual, which is divided into two parts. The first part covers Chapters 1 to 3 and contains everything relating to the facility’s infrastructure. It begins with a preamble to the rules of the competition (each discipline has its own separate regulations), use of the facility, typologies depending on the number of lanes, the location of the various disciplines and warm-up areas, lengths, radii, marking, drainage, sprinkling… It also covers the fundamental construction aspects to be considered in the infrastructure for each of the disciplines, and of course, the field that CONICA has specialized in as world leader for over 40 years – the various surfaces for the athletics track. We also have a look in these chapters at the famous “Classes” which we will examine in more detail in our next article. Chapters 1 to 3 were recently updated at the end of 2019.
The second part, including Chapters 4 to 8, is dedicated to the regulation of other very important aspects such as changing rooms, first aid, VIP areas, press rooms, access tunnel, lighting, measurements, markers and noise levels, etc. Very importantly, it also covers aspects relating to equipment such as fences, mats and starting blocks as well as high jump, pole vault elements and javelin, discus and hammer throw, etc. Another aspect worth highlighting is Chapter 7 of the manual, which specifies both the maintenance suggested for synthetic sports surfaces and the possible reconditioning variants – for example, re-topping of athletics tracks. The last section, Chapter 8, is also very extensive and once again covers almost all the previously considered aspects, but this time focusing specifically on indoor facilities. World Athletics (WA) will be updating Chapters 4 to 8 in the course of 2020.
Three basic concepts from this chapter:
- All the technical information provided by World Athletics (WA) is included in the World Athletics Track and Field Facilities Manual.
- There are also numerous other regulations to take into account depending on the individual sport discipline
- The regulations also cover variations between outdoor and indoor tracks
In the next article, we will finally examine what the different “Classes” encompass and why an amateur sports facility, for example, is not likely to be a WA “Class 1 approved facility” as well as why this would not be worthwhile.
If in the meantime you are interested in learning more about CONICA’s systems for athletics tracks, please feel free to contact us or have a look at our Website: www.conica.soulfocussports.com
