Commissioner Edward Hayco confirms: Track oval occurate, lines not | The Freeman

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Sports Center’s track oval is accurate, but the placement of the lane lines is off, which means it does not meet the 400-meter standard distance.

This was confirmed by Philippine Sports Commissioner (PSC) and former chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission Edward Hayco in an interview with The Freeman yesterday, July 15, 2024. PSC is part of the Palaro Board that Hayco is closely monitoring, including the issue on the track oval.

The concern on the track oval being substandard followed a manual measurement made prior the start of the athletics event last week, wherein the Palaro’s technical consultant Jeanette Obiena found out that the said oval is less than 400-meters.

Obiena in a previous interview with The Freeman said she has asked for some data from the contractor for validation, but to no avail.

PSC and CCSC then considered the idea of a third party surveyor, wherein Mendel Surveying Solutions Co. offered their services for free. The company is owned by Engr. Mendel Lopez, Cebu’s former road running king and his wife, former top swimmer and triathlete Lorhiz Echavez-Lopez.

Initial survey last Monday afternoon by Engr. Mendel Lopez’s team already indicated that Obenia and the rest of the technical team’s initial measurement was correct.

However, Lopez did not stop at that and continued to get more data using the Global Navigation Satellite System Real-Time Kinematic (GNSS RTK) and an electronic total station. This accordingly provides an accurate and reliable measurement.

Engr. Mendel Lopez has opted to let DepEd and CCSC disclose the details of his findings today, July 16, 2024.

The Freeman, however, was able to get some details of the survey from a very reliable source.

The actual survey revealed the Lane 1 radius of 36.57 meters and an actual length of 398.5-meter.

The inner lane or lane 1 in particular has a discrepancy of 1.5-m in length and 0.23 meters in radius making it less than the standard.

The innermost lane has the biggest discrepancy while the other lanes were short by less than a meter.

It was, however, stressed that it is not the dimension of the track oval that is wrong, but the placement of the lane