The standard running track for all levels of competition is the "400-meter oval." The 400 meters--equal to 1,312 feet--is the distance around the track as measured from the running lane closest to the center. Track builders can choose from several configurations, depending on the dimensions of the site and other activities the facility must accommodate, but the track must be 400 meters around.
Elements
A running track has two long, flat sides, called straightaways, and two rounded ends. The straightaways must be parallel and of equal length; the rounded ends are usually half-circles, also of an equal distance around.
Types
The American Sports Builders Association, which sets standards for construction of sports facilities, identifies four basic types of 400-meter oval running tracks:
On "equal quadrant tracks," each straightway is exactly 100 meters long, as is the inside lane of each half-circle.
On "non-equal-quadrant tracks," the rounded ends can be longer or shorter than the straightaways; however, each rounded portion of the track should be no shorter than 86.2 meters and no longer than 124.5 meters, according to the ASBA.
The "IAAF track"--whose specifications are set by the International Association of Athletics Federations, the governing body for world track and field--has two straightaways of 84.4 meters each and two curves of 115.6 meters each. This is the track used in the Olympics and world championships.
On "double-bend tracks," the rounded ends aren't perfect half-circles but are slightly flattened to create more usable space in the "infield"--the area inside the running lanes--for field events.
Sprint Areas
On most tracks, the running surface of at least one of the straightaways extends beyond the points where the curved sections begin. This allows straight-line sprint events such as the 100 meters and 110-meter hurdles to be held on the track. On an IAAF track, for example, one straightaway of the oval must be part of a straight strip at least 130 meters long.
Lanes
A standard running track has eight lanes, numbered one to eight, going from the center outward. Each is 1.22 meters wide--a figure that seems odd on first glance, but that comes out to exactly 4 feet. The official length of the track is measured on a line going around the oval, 20 centimeters from the inside edge of lane one.
Consideration
Because of the rounded ends, the circumference of the track gets larger with each successive lane. A full lap in lane eight of an equal-quadrant track, for example, is actually about 54 meters longer than a lap in lane one. For this reason, runners start from "staggered" positions in races in which they must stay in their lanes around curves, such as the 200-meter and 400-meter sprints. Runners on the outside lanes appear to get a "head start," but their distance to the finish line is the same as that for the runners on the inside. In loger races, such as the 1,500 meters, runners are not required to stay in lanes, so staggered starts are not necessary.
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