Linda Falkenstein
The current cinder track at Demetral Field.
The cinder track at Demetral lacks markings and is ‘super slow.’
Madison’s east side could soon be getting a new outdoor running track.
A group of athletes is planning a fundraising effort to turn the cinder track at Demetral Park into a nine-lane, 400-meter USA Track and Field-certified track. John Curtin, an organizer with the group, says no fundraising target has been set yet but expects it to land around $1 million. Donations to the Eastside Commmunity Track & Field Fund will be tax-deductible through the Madison Public Schools Foundation, which serves as the fiscal sponsor for the group.
The logo for the 2025 Nonprofit Issue.
Last year UW-Madison demolished the indoor track at the Shell, which had been used by Badgers track athletes and the general public, without providing an alternative space. There has been considerable backlash to that move. The university’s outdoor track at McClimon is not open to the public and the track at Edgewood College has intermittent hours.
“Madison’s a great running town, but there’s no track access,” says Curtin, a long-time runner and UW-Madison professor who coaches the cross country team and track club at Georgia O’Keeffe Middle School.
He says most adult runners typically head to Verona High School to do track workouts. The cinder track at Demetral hasn’t been repaired in years and provides a squishy, unpleasant running experience, he adds; it also lacks any lane markings, making racing impossible.
“It’s super slow,” says Curtin. During one competition, he says, students ran “45 seconds slower than they run the mile on a real track.”
Courtesy Fischer Tracks
A rendering of the proposed track at Demetral Field.
The proposed track would also be able to host such field events as pole vault, high jump, shot put, discus, and “likely” triple jump as well, Curtin says.
The land is owned by both the city’s parks division and the Madison Metropolitan School District; both are supportive of the renovation moving forward, Curtin says. Madison East High students would have priority access to the track immediately after school, but Curtin says the track would be open to the public at other times.
Curtin argues that the new track would provide community members with health benefits and increase equity in Madison’s running scene. Athletes at East High currently take a bus to LaFollete High School to do workouts at the track there.
