Due to “substandard” oval: 7 records go down the drain | The Freeman

CEBU, Philippines — At least seven records supposedly established in the track event in the athletics competition of the recently concluded 64th Palarong Pambansa will go down the drain after the organizers of the biggest annual national sporting event refused to recognize following the validation of a third party surveyor that the P52 million newly-refurbished rubberized track oval of the Cebu City Sports Center fell short of the 400-meter international standard.

Department of Education (DepEd) Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas yesterday made the official announcement of the result of the survey conducted by the Mendel Lopez Surveying Solutions, Co. on the track oval.

The result of the survey shows that the rubberized track oval is 1.5-meters short of the required 400-meters in the World Athletics standard. Bringas, however, clarified that the dimension of the oval itself is accurate, only the lines designating each lane on the rubberized track oval fell short of the standard.

“It is not the track oval that is short or not standard size…the discrepancy was a result of the lining of the lanes,” Bringas explained.

The technical specification of measurements under the World Athletics manual was allegedly not followed during the markings of the lanes.

SBD Builders, the contractor that repaired the track oval, refused to take the blame for the mistake.

Shaun Doherty, owner of SBD Builders, said the line markings were done by a third party allegedly recommended by Palaro technical consultant Jeannet Obiena.

“By the way when the line marking was being performed the Palarong Pambansa consultant Jeannet Obiena remotely supervised the line marking work in Abellana over the phone and video calls with the 3rd party line marker giving him direct instructions. We don’t understand why the very same people questioned the marking when the person doing the marking was their recommendation and was closely supervised by the so called experts,” Doherty said in a text message sent to The Freeman.

She explained that her company’s scope of work was only to replace the old defective rubber and install the new rubber track in time for the Palaro which they did. Doherty said she does