Kingston, 23 October 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says the way is now clear for the replacement of the Stadium East running track to begin.

Minister Grange has announced that "Cabinet has approved a contract for J$71.5 million to the German firm, BSW GmbH, to begin the urgent replacement of the synthetic running track."

BSW, one of the world's leading suppliers of synthetic surfaces, successfully replaced the main running track at the National Stadium in 2011.  Since then the company has installed running tracks at several facilities across Jamaica.

According to Minister Grange, the Stadium East track "has the distinction of being the training surface for more Olympic and World Championship Track and Field medallists than any other running track in the world, but it is now in need of urgent repair in order to avert the danger of our athletes suffering career-ending injuries."

Minister Grange wants the work to begin and completed as soon as possible without significantly affecting the local track and field season.

It is estimated that the replacement work will take 14 weeks.

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