The facility is expected to feature one of the fastest tracks in the world and it is now home to the Boston College track and field team.
The BC Eagles now have a home track at The TRACK and will host a track and field competition for the first time ever on Friday.
“This is just amazing. Honestly, I’m just so grateful to be able to have this every day,” said Kate Mitchell, a middle-distance runner from Lynnfield. “We at BC don’t have a track, so we would run on the football turf in the winter or try to find a plowed street. This is a huge game changer for us.”
“The whole facility is highly-automated, from the network infrastructure that we put into the robotics and the hydraulics,” said Andrew Gilman, chief marketing officer for NWN Carousel, a longtime technology partner of New Balance Athletics.
The TRACK at New Balance is not only a track, it’s an entire research and development facility with a sports testing lab that measures everything from running technique to oxygen intake and maximum heart rate.
“When it comes to sports performance, there are some things that are very quantifiable, very measurable. And the more data that we can give to the coaches, give to the athletes, they get a fuller picture of what they can do to better their performances,” said Abby McGahey, a sports performance research engineer in the New Balance Sports Research Lab.
“We can do a really deep analysis into their physiology and into their running mechanics, or their biomechanics, and give their coach and give their athletes some really precise feedback,” said Barry Spiering, lead physiologist for the New Balance Sports Research Lab.
“It just gives us more answers,” said Boston College assistant coach Tim McGowan. “Usually, it’s just: ‘How many miles are you running?’ and ‘How are you feeling today?’ But now, we can actually look at their form.”
The BC track and field team and the research team at The TRACK are calling their collaboration a conversation between athlete, coach and scientist. That conversation will be put to the test as the Eagles will look to improve results this season.