Aging Track Not Benefitting From Indoor Marathon
The 20-year-old oval is badly in need of repair.
The 20-year-old oval is badly in need of repair.
This weekend, 800 brave souls will be running a lot of laps in the InStep Icebreaker Indoor Marathon The three-year-old event, which actually comprises a 5K, a relay, two half-marathons, and a full marathon, was originally created to raise funds for the deteriorating rubberized track at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee.
However, to date none of the money has gone to that worthy cause. Instead, the funds went into the ice rink’s annual operating budget and not into a separate fund for the track.
The estimated cost of the repair: $100,000. And since the race has only realized a total profit of $3,500 thus far, the ultimate goal to fix the track may never be realized.
“We are looking at various alternatives,” said Randy Dean, the executive director of the ice rink. “We would like to replace the track…[but] to think the Indoor marathon is going to pay for it, it’s not going to happen at this rate.”