Valley Christian High School, San Jose
Above are pictures of the new Mondo version of this facility. You can see the amazing 360 degree view from this hilltop location. The finish line already shows wear.
Below are pictures of the old version of this track, built in 2001. Within its
first months it was vandalized and repaired. Then this original installation
wor out faster than just about any other track I have documented. The result
was the terribly worn track I photographed in late 2003, necessitating the complete
new installation of Mondo.
This photo is facing northwest. This is on a hilltop overlooking southeast
San Jose. There just isn't anywhere to get a wide shot. For a relativel new
track this is showing lots of signs of wear, visible as black splotches in the
surface. When you look close, you can see the top layer of the surface is disappearing.
The home stretch shows the wear better. I saw this track just weeks after it
was installed. Unfortunately it had already been vantalized and they painted
over the vandalism--here on the home stretch. So with an extra layer of paint
it is shocking to see what wear has occurred in the four years before this picture
and the one below were taken.
This used to be a sealed blue surface. I have to rate this the worst pure
wear I have seen on an all weather track.
Facing more north, you can see the east stands are rollaway type stands stored
on the track for football season and beyond. This is a fake grass infield and
there are three other such fields on the various playing field pads on this
hilltop campus.
In the distance is the school and gymnasium which are on a lower level from
the field.