The aroma of Tarmac is in the air at the DSD Athletics Sports Campus! This Tarmac is the last of many layers of rock, stone and sand forming a stable base for the rubber Mondo athletics track which is being fabricated in northern Italy and soon to be transported here and laid onsite this summer. A massive 7,800 square metres of Mondo rubber surfaces are being produced for our Campus. Mondo is the world’s leading athletics track producer. If you have watched the Olympics, you’ve seen a Mondo track. Yeah, it’s up there!
On 20th July last year, the DSD Development Team announced that the contractor AGC started works at the St Thomas site. Since then, AGC has moved thousands of tons of earth and stone around the site to create a unique Campus with a 400-metre athletics track surrounded by a network of sloped running trails. Eddie McDonagh says it’s the hills – think Kilmashogue! – that have led so many DSD athletes to perform at the highest level; he will be delighted to see this tradition being baked into the design of the new Campus.
And we have good news on the funding front: since works began last July, we have successfully completed the due diligence phase with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to start drawing down part of the €5.25M LSSIF to complete Phase 1, which includes the 400-metre track, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, all the throwing disciplines, 2.5km of trails, the footpath & cycle lane linking the roundabout to our entrance, and the new car park.
In the meantime, the team has also been working with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to determine the best way to operate the Campus once Phase 1 is opened later this year. And when it is up and running, the DSD Development Team will restructure to ensure there is a team in place to have oversight on the operation of Phase 1 and another team to focus on delivering Phase 2, which comprises the sports hall with changing rooms, offices, indoor sprint track and so on. But we are volunteers, and now we need more club members or parents of club members to join us on this adventure. We are particularly keen to meet people who have experience in project management, finance, building projects, civil engineering, planning, architecture or related areas to join the team and help us work with the contractors who will make Phase 2 a reality. If you think you can help, please email communications@dsdathletics.ie and someone on the team will get back to you.
We wrap up with more good news: while the Mondo track is being laid this summer (which, apparently may take up to 8 weeks given its sheer size, and weather permitting of course), AGC is down in the forest and river area to get the forest trails done. DSD endurance runners are in for a treat!
It’s time to believe!
DSD Development Team
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