FAIRHOPE, Ala.– Fairhope High School held its grand ribbon cutting Tuesday, February 20, 2024, in Founders Park. Track team members, coaches, city officials and school staff attended to celebrate the new course.
According to Gulf Coast media the track cost approximately $2.48 million.
In an interview with WKRG, Fairhope Mayor Sherrie Sullivan, who attended the ribbon ceremony and spoke to the stakeholders, said the new track gives kids the opportunity to train in a new facility and opens the opportunity to host Alabama High School Association meets.
Hosting meets brings outside revenue into the community.
“We are able to host meets now and actually have two meets that we are going to host April 13 and 18, more importantly we are going to be hosting the county championship,” said Obie Watkins, head coach.
FHS runners now get the luxury of being a short distance from their practices after school unlike before when they practiced in different areas around the campus and at Volanta Park.
In addition to proximity, they get to experience home field advantage at a meet, something new to them.
“Being as we are the team and program that does more with less, we are wishing to do more and win more championships and produce more athletes in the next few years,” said senior Lane Watson, Troy University Cross Country signee.
At the end of the ceremony, the Fairhope cross country and track teams took their first ever lap around the new arena. The new facility gives the teams their own area to compete.
To host an official meet, the track must meet regulations that the new facility exceeds.
“It is a weather rubberized track with regulation lanes, opposed to our old asphalt track that wasn’t regulation size,” Watson said.
This track not only benefits the high school team but also the Fairhope community. The city plans to keep the track open to the public from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, unless the high school team is using it.
Student runners and the community alike can enjoy access to a state of the art track facility, experiencing something never seen before in Fairhope.
This new track facility has opened opportunities, not just for the city, but for athlete-development as a whole.
