{"id":306947,"date":"2019-08-29T06:06:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T20:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=306947"},"modified":"2019-08-29T06:06:18","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T20:06:18","slug":"oleai-track-facility-needs-repair-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/oleai-track-facility-needs-repair-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleai track facility needs repair, again"},"content":{"rendered":"
Temporary repair has been done in the damaged surface at the Oleai Sports Complex track oval. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the CNMI hosting the Pacific Mini Games two years from now, the Oleai Sports Complex track and field facility will have to undergo repair work anew.<\/p>\n

The track just went through resurfacing last year, but signs of damage have been seen with the rubberized turf along with its other features, no thanks to Super Typhoon Yutu that hit the island in October last year.<\/p>\n

Greg Iginoef, head of maintenance for the Northern Marianas Sports Association, which manages and operates the Oleai Sports Complex, said that NMSA has been slowly renovating the track facility. He said that they are fixing the track\u2019s surface, railings, and drainage. Iginoef added they also need equipment for the facility. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Mini Games, we just need to make those small repairs. Some of the surface is peeling off and when you walk on it, you will see some cracks on the track from the tin roof during Yutu. We need to order some more stuff for the hammer throw, and waterblast the track,\u201d Iginoef said.<\/p>\n

However, Iginoef belives that minor renovations won\u2019t suffice if the goal is to prolong the facility\u2019s life span. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should redo the track because if we just resurface those small damages, we\u2019ll never know where the water is and it\u2019s going to peel off in three to four years, again. I think we should redo it to make it last another 10 to 15 years, instead of just making repairs and seeing bubbles in four to five years,\u201d the NMSA staff added. <\/p>\n

Iginoef said that the money to renovate and repair the track, along with the rest of the facilities at the Oleai Sports Complex, will come from the funding allocated to NMSA by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Northern Marianas Athletics president Ray Tebuteb said that the track facility is \u201crepairable\u201d and although there are major renovations needed, a redo may not be necessary. <\/p>\n

Tebuteb, however, reiterated that it is critical to bring the facility back to International Association of Athletics Federation certification standards and maintain that grade. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say it\u2019s 50-50, between minor and major repairs. I\u2019m talking about keeping it at that certification level (Level II). You also have to look at it being a community property. There are certain things you have to do to keep up with that,\u201d said. <\/p>\n

Tebuteb added that the current repairs to the track are temporary and a permanent fix is forthcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you walk the track, you\u2019ll see the damage from the typhoon, but because of the events that we have had, we had to temporarily patch those up, but that\u2019s not a professional job. The concern is our athletes\u2019 safety when on the track, that\u2019s why we had temporary repairs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the CNMI hosting the Pacific Mini Games two years from now, the Oleai Sports…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":306948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}