Harvard Track May Be Used In National Sports Festival

Some of the country's premier runners may compete on Harvard's new outdoor track if Boston is selected as the site of the 1986 National Sports Festival.

Currently there are 12 sites bidding to be selected by the United States Olympic Committee, and the final decision will be made in the spring.

The new $1 million 440-meter track is the only major running facility in the area with eight lanes, a necessary condition for the events, says Pat Miller, associate director of athletic.

The track's unique design also allows runners to increase their speed by three percent over standard outdoor tracks and decreases the potential for injury, said George Oomen, one of the track's designers and special assistant to the vice president for administration. A faster track is especially appealing to runners on the brink of setting a record, he added.

"If it produces the way we think it will, it will be a place where people will want to come and compete," Miller said.

"People talk to me all the time about running on the track simply because it is so innovative," said Athletic Director Jack Reardon.

Track Coach Frank Haggerty, who labelled the track as one "of the fastest and finest in the world," also said that "the ease with which we have been able to produce fast times in practice so far has been extraordinary."

Construction of the track began last spring. The track was used officially for the first time only last week when the Harvard track teams began workouts on it.

The National Sports Festival is held annually, except during Olympic years, and the events take place during the last two weeks of July.