UCC athletics track to reopen Oct 2025

Aug 2025

Back in March of 2024, the UCC athletics track at the Mardyke was closed due to safety concerns as the track surface was beginning to disintegrate in places. Then there was the saga about who was going to pay for a new rack surface.

On the far left, you can see the remains of the old track crumpled up on the grass. On the mid-right, you can see how the new track comes in rolls. In the centre, you can see how they are using bricks to weigh  down the edges of the strips to allow the adhesive to cure  properly.

All of this work of course requires dry weather so that may be a factor in the coming weeks. After the new track is put down, all of the lanes and markings will need to be painted on.

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Update - 22nd Oct 2025 - The track will reopen on Tues 28th Oct 2025. The lines on the track will be painted in the Spring of 2026.

Update - 9th Sept 2025 - The new surface is now completed and it just needs to be painted now.

Previous posts below...

Resurfacing of the athletics track at the Mardyke to start in early June - 23rd May 2025

UCC issues tender for repair of the Mardyke athletics track - 23rd Jan 2025

The ongoing saga of the Mardyke athletics track - 27th Mar 2024

Mardyke track shut down with immediate effect due to safety concerns - 11th Mar 2024

Resurfacing of the athletics track at the Mardyke to start in early June

In previous posts, I've covered the ongoing saga of the damage to the athletics tracks at the Mardyke in Cork City...

Mardyke track shut down with immediate effect due to safety concerns - 11th March 2024

The ongoing saga of the Mardyke athletics track - 27th March 2024

UCC issues tender for repair of the Mardyke athletics track - 23rd January 2025

UCC Mardyke have just announced that resurfacing works on the athletics track will commence on the 6th of June 2025.

I presume this will take a good few weeks so perhaps it will be open for September and the shorter evenings?

UCC issues tender for repair of the Mardyke athletics track - Jan 2025

In two previous posts in March of 2024, I covered the story of the closure of the UCC athletics track at the Mardyke in Co City based on safety concerns.

The ongoing saga of the Mardyke athletics track - March 2024

Mardyke track shut down with immediate effect due to safety concerns

The latest news is that on the 22nd of Jan 2025, UCC issued a tender for the replacement of the existing damaged track. 

"UCC hereby issues this information for Stage 1 Pre-Qualification Stage of a Two Stage Restricted Procedure for the Appointment of Works Contractors for Mardyke Track Refurbishment. The proposed works comprise the refurbishment of existing 8 lane non-porous athletics track comprising the removal and off-site disposal of all existing polymeric track and supply and installation of new track."

Link HERE

I'm not sure what the timeline is for this project but they usually take a lot longer that people expect. Late 2025? 2026?

Mardyke track shut down with immediate effect due to safety concerns

UCC have announced that they are shutting down the 400m athletics track at the Mardyke with immediate effect. They reason they give is due to "rapid and significant deterioration of the track".

Part of the UCC statement reads: “Following an urgent inspection this morning with our Building and Estates team and outside experts and professional advisers and track repair companies I have had to take the decision to close the UCC Athletics track for health and safety and reasons, with immediate effect.

“We have been keeping the track under close operational review with ongoing repairs over the past year years. However there has been a rapid and significant deterioration in the last three-four weeks. 

"There are now over 15 full rips down to the underlying surface and perhaps up to 20 per cent of the track with large bubbles on it – which will lead to further tears.

“We were advised by Sports Lab to cut away all rips and bubbles but on looking further at this we all agreed that the scale of cutting would be too high to sustain our operations safely.

“We cannot allow students/staff and external users continue to use the tack in such conditions. 

"The underlying surface is very wet and slippery and cannot be repaired at this time. The scale of the repairs is such that the full track will probably need replacing in the right weather conditions.” 

They make no comment as to whether the '15 full rips' were due to general wear and tear or to other factors. 

Looking at an old post on the blog, the existing track surface is there from late 2012.

Sonia O'Sullivan re-opens UCC track renamed in her honour...Sat 13th Apr 2013

At a ceremony at the UCC Mardkye Sports Complex in Cork City this afternoon, Sonia O'Sullivan re-opened the refurbished track which has been renamed in her honour.

 

As one of Irelands most successful athletes, Sonia spoke of her fond memories of competing on the track and how when she was younger, she used to have to get the train up from Cobh to train there. As we all know, those many years of training resulted in some outstanding performances which included a silver medal in the 5000m at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, a Gold medal in the 1995 World Championships, a Silver medal in the 1500m at the 1993 World Championships as well as three European Championship Gold medals and two World Cross-Country Championship Gold medals.

"It is a great honour. I can’t believe it, to be honest,” she said. "It is a tremendous privilege to have the track in my name and I want to thank everyone at UCC for this great honour.”

In his speech, UCC President Dr Michael Murphy said “Sonia is an inspiration to athletes everywhere and particularly for those who will train and compete on this track in the future. We are delighted to celebrate the achievements of one of the world’s greatest athletes, by naming our world class athletics track after Sonia.

Photos of this event were taken on behalf of the Running in Cork blog by Joe Murphy. You can see a slideshow of photos HERE