Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium

Facilities

Athletics Clubs

Additional Information

The track was built on land which was formerly occupied by the football stadium which was built in 1894/5 and which staged a few early FA Cup Finals. The track was originally 440y cinder and opened in May 1964 - the same year as the whole National Sports Centre complex. It was upgraded to a 3M 'Tartan' synthetic track with an opening date of 19th May 1968 and was the first full track of this type not just in the UK but in the whole of Europe and also the first 400m track to be built in the UK. It was resurfaced in 1993 with Polytan PUR and all the runways were coloured blue. The stadium underwent a ?1.5 million upgrade in 2004 with the track and base mat being completely renewed again with Polytan. The track opened again on 20th Jul 2004. There is also an indoor straight next to the track and an external throwing area although this is not suitable for competition as the landing area is uphill and is apparently rarely used. Crystal Palace has traditionally been the home of British Athletics and after a few years break from staging top-class meets, the British Grand Prix returned here in 1999.In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were a succession of running tracks at Crystal Palace but in slightly different locations to the present one. Details of these ones are in the Crystal Palace entry in the old tracks section. A speedway track around the FA Cup Final ground was opened on 19th May 1928 but it is not thought that this track was ever used for athletics.

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