WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Dec. 6, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When the new JDL Fast Track indoor track facility opens in January 2012, it will feature something that will be seen around the world next summer during the London Olympic Games: a running track with a Mondotrack surface. Manufactured by Mondo, the global leader in the sports flooring market, Mondotrack is the official track of the 2012 Games.
JDL Fast Track is the brainchild of two former Wake Forest University runners, David Shannon and Craig Longhurst, who both now work for real estate development firm JDL Castle Corporation. Shannon and Longhurst wanted to run indoors during the North Carolina winters, but they discovered a lack of indoor track facilities in the area. Putting their real estate development experience to use, the pair identified a 105,000 square-foot former manufacturing facility/warehouse that would be perfect to house the new state-of-the-art facility. Renovations currently are underway.
"JDL Fast Track will fill a need for an indoor track facility for the entire state," Longhurst said. "High schools, colleges, local track clubs and youth track organizations already have expressed a desire to use the new venue for meets. In fact, we just scheduled our first events—a high school invitational in late January and a college invitational in mid-February."
When the time came to choose the surface for the six-lane, 200-meter oval track, Longhurst asked coaches and other track and field contacts for their thoughts about Mondo, and all of them gave the company high praise.
"All the coaches I spoke with praised the performance of Mondo's products and the durability of the surface," Longhurst said. "We're very excited about having Mondo. The name recognition will go a long way toward promoting the facility and enhancing its reputation." In particular, Longhurst said, the Mondo track would be a selling point to collegiate athletic conferences seeking venues for their meets.
"It's also going to go a long way to be able to say to kids, 'You're running on the same surface that they're competing on in the Olympics,'" Longhurst said. "That can mean a lot to a young person who is dreaming of being an Olympian one day."
Mondo's sports flooring also is being used in non-competition areas of the arena. The warm-up track is the company's Super X Performance surface, and the non-athletic surfaces are Baselast rubber flooring.
"Mondo had great options for giving us a world-class competition surface, minimizing concrete areas and maximizing where kids can wear their spikes to get from one point to another, all while staying within our budget," said Longhurst.
Longhurst also said Mondo provided the best options for JDL Fast Track's design needs. "We wanted to do something a little different and use alternating green and gold lane colors," he said. "Other track manufacturers didn't have quite the color palette and design options that Mondo did."
JDL Fast Track will have bleachers to seat more than 900 spectators (with room for additional bleachers to be installed), ample office and meeting-room space, a training room, and hospitality suites for coaches' or conference officials' meetings at large meets. Mooresville, N.C.-based Medallion Athletics Products, a general contractor that sells and installs Mondo products, will install the Mondo surfaces.
About Mondo Mondotrack and Super X Performance
The official track of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 Games in London, Mondotrack was designed to provide optimal traction and a greater contact area than other tracks. It converts the maximum amount of force generated by athletes' foot strikes to energy for maximum energy return, which helps athletes achieve faster times compared to running on other surfaces. Mondotrack also provides excellent athletic comfort and maximum safety with the optimum blend of speed and comfort to accommodate both high-competition and training venues.
Mondotrack builds upon the success of Mondo's world-renowned Super X Performance track, which has been the world's top track for more than 30 years and was the track of the previous eight Olympic Games before Beijing. More than 230 world records have been set on Mondo tracks, including five at the 2008 Olympics.
About Mondo
Mondo is the global leader in the sports and contract flooring markets, manufacturing flooring surfaces for virtually every application. More than 1,100 Mondo tracks and 800 Mondo artificial turf fields are installed worldwide. The official supplier of the athletic track for the past nine Olympic Games and the upcoming 2012 London Olympics, Mondo also is the official supplier or official sponsor of more than 100 sports federations and associations.
The company supplies a wide variety of commercial flooring, and it is the world's largest producer of sports and toy balls with an average daily production of 450,000 units. In addition, it manufactures large luxury yachts under its Mondo Marine division.
A family-owned business since its founding in 1948, Mondo sells its products in more than 196 countries. The company's global headquarters are in Italy, and it has manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. More information about Mondo is available at mondoworldwide.com.
The Mondo logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5765
Mondo is a registered trademark of Mondo.