The licensees of the two Montpellier athletics clubs, the Montpellier Athletic Club and the Montpellier Athletic Méditerranée Métropole, are likely to be delighted by putting on their running sneakers. And for good reason, the training track at the Philippidès stadium in the north of Montpellier has just been completely renovated. Their old 400-meter playing field, which has become worn out due to bumps or air bubbles, gives way to a light blue coating.
– Remi Surrans
A new layer over the old
It is the workers of the Polytan company who are in charge of refurbishing this track. After repairing these bumps or filling these holes, they started the bulk of the work. “We apply what we call a toping“explains Adrien Bachelet, employee of Polytan. “It is a mixture of two resins which form polyurethane, which is placed on the old coating. Small pieces of rubber called aggregates are added on top to create a new layer.“.
– Remi Surrans
Magnetic tags and a sensor belt on the athlete
But the main novelty, it is the integration of magnetic sensors that will record the performance of athletes. Clearly, this Smartracks system is broken down into three elements. “There are magnetic beacons arranged opposite each other which form invisible doors in order to measure passage times“explains Jean-Pierre Bailly, commercial director of Polytan. “A belt of sensors called sensors (resembling a USB key) allows data to be retrieved through the doors it has passed through” he adds. For professionals, sophisticated software can analyze all of this data.
Focus workouts differently
The total cost of the refurbishment work amounts to 750,000 euros. For a tool necessarily very interesting for the two athletics clubs of the city. “We were delighted to learn of the existence of this new system.“smiles Bastien Mandrou, technical director of the Montpellier Athletic Club.The track really needed it. This will allow us to focus our training sessions differently with this feedback.“It’s not just the licensees of the two Montpellier clubs who will be able to benefit from Smartracks. Racing fans will be able to test these devices at the Philippidès stadium in the slots open to the public, at a lower level of data. We will have to wait until mid-Septemberwhen everything should be in working order.