Harriers Await New Home in Nylon Bubble

After more than a year of hoping, Harvard's varsity track team will finally get a new home--a $300,000 inflatable, vinyl-coated, nylon "bubble."

Measuring 300 feet by 150 feet by 60 feet, the Harvard Bubble is believed to be the largest facility of its kind in the world.

The Department of Buildings and Grounds plans to have the structure ready for practice by the first week in November.

The structure will house a six-lane track (11 laps to the mile) with an 80-yard straightaway. Unlike a similar bubble constructed at the University of Pennsylvania last year, the Soldiers Field facility will be large enough to accommodate the weight and field events. Seating for about 400 spectators will also be installed.

Financed by the Friends of Harvard Track, the Harvard Bubble will boast a synthetic Tartan running surface designed to lessen the muscle strain most indoor runners experience from long periods of running on conventional board surfaces.

It has been a long wait for Coach Bill McCurdy and his trackman, for Harvard's Faculty Committee on Athletics made the original decision in favor of the structure last January after months of deliberation.

But now that the construction date is final, McCurdy can hardly wait to escape the narrow confines of dingy Briggs Gage, the limited indoor track building that he has had to share with the varsity football and baseball teams at various times of the year.

Marvelous

"This new bubble is really a marvelous facility," McCurdy said. "I doubt that there is anywhere in the East, with the exception of the new athletic complex under construction at Princeton, that has as much potential for track and field operations," he said.

"It gives us almost complete freedom of operations and makes it possible for us to practice year-round in spite of the unpredictable New England weather," he said.

"The Tartan track will enable us to do much more work at practice," McCurdy said, "and while times may be slower at first, the lightened impact on runners' legs and feet will allow my men to carry on the type of practice they want."

The site for the facility, west of the Palmer Dixon Indoor tennis courts, has already been cleared and leveled, and B&G plans to begin laying the foundations by late next week. Platforms must also be constructed for the three large fans which will maintain air pressure inside the bubble to keep it inflated.

Constructon on the bubble was delayed this summer as tests were conducted to determine the soundest building materials.

"Since a bubble on such a large scale is a relatively new concept," a B&G spokes-man said, "we wanted to be sure the structure conformed with city and state safety standards, was what we needed, and would do the job."

The bubble will stand from October until June each year and will serve as an interim track facility until a more permanent building, currently under study, is erected.