The Sporting Culture - The People of St. Albans and Abbey View Community Track
- Christopher Awuku
- 3 days ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Community running tracks - people, benefits, and future
Sport has the power to grant meaning at the big and small levels alike. Whether at elite levels or grassroots facilities, both apply in equal measure. The benefits of sport are multiple. Physical and mental health are primary facets in this regard, as well as community, togetherness and camaraderie. Sport England states there are over 98,000 community-run facilities in the country, with 367 being athletics tracks.
Athletics, in terms of media attention, is most popular when the Olympics are on. And when big stars past and present – Daley Thompson, Sir Seb Coe, Steve Cram, Linford Christie, Denise Lewis, Fatima Whitbread, Sally Gunnell, and Sir Mo Farah – achieve great heights at the biggest of stages. Following the 2012 Olympics, Sport England noted more people engaged in athletics - to follow in the footsteps of Sir Mo and others.
Abbey View Community Track
This naturally involved the use of local community athletics tracks. There are numerous such tracks in the UK, run by a mix of local councils and voluntary groups. They serve as important local hubs, where people can practice, stay fit, and be in the open accordingly.
One specific track, Abbey View Community Track, was saved from closure and remains a community asset.
Ms Wendy Powell, Vice-Chair of St. Albans Athletics Club and a board member of the charity group that administers the track, provided insights on its running:
"We have a whole range of athletes and other sporting people using the track. It's always been open to every ability, so we've had people [such as] many years ago, the likes of Fatima Whitbread used to come down, and train. Still, we've got various national athletes through the ages."
Athletics tracks exist in numerous locales, from poor urban areas to wealthier spots, and Abbey View Community Track is no exception. St. Albans, a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, in many ways typifies the richer parts of the county and the Home Counties generally. It is a city steeped in history, stemming from Roman-era ruins, the medieval cathedral, and where one of the early battles of the Wars of the Roses took place. This is topped off with its name, coming from the first recorded Christian saint (or protomartyr) in Britain – Saint Alban.
A stroll around the city centre shows the age and history of the city – from the medieval Clock Tower to the shops, pubs, bars, and restaurants contained in 16th, 17th, and 18th century architecture.
Even in affluent cities, community tracks serve an important purpose. Abbey View Community Track was built in 1971 by St. Albans City Council to serve the wider district area. It holds six lanes, with eight lanes in a 100 metre strip
Located next to Verulamium Park – the home of prominent Roman ruins and the city’s major open space – it complements the adjacent Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre, which opened over a decade ago. Leisure centre users often utilise the track, and it is thus strategically located next to the city’s major public park, and in easy access via road and rail.
The location is depicted below, showing nearby towns and road links.
The track is administered by a charity, formed when the Council announced it may close the track down due to financial cuts. Keen to keep a local community asset, the charity was formed to administer it in the Council's stead.
Despite St. Albans’s comparative affluence, what effect is the community track holding?
The people of St. Albans and the track
Ms Powell further expanded on this history of the track and how it came under charity ownership:
"There have been various iterations of a track down at that location in Verulamium Park. It started off just as a cinder track that people used to run around. It's always been open to the general public, to the schools and things. And then in the 1980s, I believe, they resurfaced it, and they put a proper modern surface track."
Ms Powell further expanded on the range of users who have utilised the track:
"Most recently, we've had Phoebe Gill, who went to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. She did pretty much all of her training down at the track. We've also got at the other end of the spectrum, six and seven-year-olds who come down this in St. Albans Athletics Club sessions. The Special Olympics come down and train there, as a girl who is about to be the first female runner with Down Syndrome to run a marathon is training with them."
Gill's inclusion in the Team GB squad was celebrated on the club's social media, as shown above.
The track also serves as a schools sporting hub:
"We host all the county and district league matches for schools and have done so the whole time it's been open, so they're into school matches for secondary schools. So that is a league across the whole of Hertfordshire basically, so secondly, all the tracks in St Albans take in turns to host all the schools and various things."
Two of the main track users are St. Albans Athletic Club and St. Albans Striders, with the former catering for youngsters and the latter for cross-country and adults’ team events. It was members of the St. Albans Athletics Club who founded the charity which administers the track. In the Herts area, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, and Watford all possess local athletics tracks, hosting athletics clubs and being valued community resources in their own rights. The track also serves people from these towns, and thus across the county.
Lucy Waterlow, a coach at the St. Albans Striders, offered thoughts on her usage of the facility:
"I'm a member of Saint Albans Striders running club, so that's how I know about the track. And then I coach sessions there twice a week. So on a Tuesday evening, we use it from 7 pm-9 pm, and then on a Thursday lunchtime, we use it from 12.30 pm-1 pm. So I'm used to being there as a coach, coaching sessions. That means I don't join in. I just coach other people."
According to Sport England, for every £1 granted to community sport, it produces several pounds of economic and social benefits. The total value of sport in England was said to be over £123bn in 2025. As seen in the figure above, Abbey View Community Track helps contribute to the pan-England monetary amount as cited.
User benefits
Physical and mental health
Ms Powell spoke of cases where the track has helped people, including those with mental health conditions, and involving local Duke of Edinburgh Scheme students. She further relayed an anecdote of how the track has helped:
"I can think of one young adult now, I think he's 18, who actually I think of two, both of them were within the St Albans Athletics Club. One of them started doing work experience from his college, with a very, very shy, withdrawn and didn't really take part in anything, it obviously had some issues at school as well. He started volunteering with our younger athletes, helping them out, and he is now running with the club. He started chatting to people, and actually, his mum made a reasonably significant donation to the track because she saw such a change in him at home."
"We've now offered him some summer work, painting work this year, because we're sort of confident that, actually, his ability to interact with other people has really come on."
Ms Waterlow added:
"What I like about it is you can obviously separate sessions you want to do, and you've got the distance marked out on the track across roads. You don't have to worry about being near traffic."
This was interpersed with a whimsical anecdote:
"Another big bonus for me recently, I got knocked over by a dog on a recent run, so when I'm on the track, and not being intercepted by dogs. Big benefit for me."
Spring and summer 2026
With the spring and summer to come, there is more scope with warmer and longer days ahead to use the facility. Ms Powell spoke on the offerings coming soon:
"After Easter, the track's pretty much booked every afternoon from sort of half one to a clock through to seven o'clock with various schools coming down, doing their PE lessons down there, and the school district and county league matches, and then the athletics club come on in the evening."
As for the summer:
"I think we tend to get a little bit less of the public runners through the summer, because they can go out on the roads a bit, they're a bit less muddy, they're a bit lighter later in the evening, and all that."
With the Spring Equinox on the 20th March 2026 - the official start of spring - more uses are available in the coming months.
Both clubs housed at the track have upcoming summer events, for seasoned and new runners alike (St. Albans Athletics Club/St Albans Striders).
Different things for different people
Physical activity naturally has a differing appeal to various kinds of people. Powell said:
"There are many women who will come and run on the track. It's a safe, well-lit space, particularly during the winter. If they don't want to go out on the roads, it's because they're icy, or it's dark, or they don't feel safe running out on the roads. We can provide them with a safe, well-lit place for them to run."
Waterlow offered her thoughts in this regard:
"So it's not like you're gonna have to cut down a dark alley on your own or something like that. So it's definitely a lot safer. And also, it's a lot safer in terms of the surface, because obviously, it's just one flat surface. It's not like you're going to fall into a pothole or an uneven pavement, and it's quite difficult to see if the road's not very well lit, so it's a lot safer in that respect as well.
A 2026 UK Parliament report stated women often feel unsafe whilst outside running or jogging. The presence of the track thus aids St. Albans women in running safely."
The younger generation also benefits, as Powell expounds:
"We always say to them, you know, you're outside, you're away from your phones, you're away from any influence like that. You just come, run and enjoy being outside. There's a social aspect to it as well. We've got several groups of people that will all book onto a public session, maybe four or five of them, they'll run around together and then maybe go and have a coffee somewhere."
Challenges
Residents, due to St. Albans' place as a commuter city, might also be time poor, impacting on volunteering and usage. Powell also mentioned the track's administration comes with challenges:
"I was quite surprised about it, but speaking to a couple of other charities, they believe that's why, because people are apparently time-poor or choose to spend their time on non-sporting endeavours. To get coaches and things from the athletics perspective, club perspective, and I'm sort of wearing two hats there as well, in both the track and the clock."
Analysis of local health data has also offered insights:
"And interestingly, I spent some time looking at the Herts data on obesity and inactivity levels within St. Albans and Hertfordshire at large. Rather, the inactivity and obesity levels in St. Albans are actually going up at a higher rate compared to the rest of the county."
Track maintenance, trespassers, and vandals have also been concerns:
"We've raised the height of the fencing on the gates, because people just used to come in; it's locked up when it's not in use, but people just used to jump the gates. So we've, we've raised the fencing on the gates and fixed a couple of other places that we found where they were coming in. But it, you know, it's mostly bored kids who come and push a portaloo over or like that, which is delightful to deal with the next day."
Managing volunteers can also be challenging:
"It's really hard doing stuff with volunteers. And, you know, everyone's trying their best. We desperately need more volunteers to open up for public sessions. That's the hardest lesson, I think. And you can't, because they're volunteers, you can't say, 'Well, no, you've got to come to the track and open up'. And they're going, 'Yeah, but I entered a race, and I'm running myself somewhere else'. So that is really hard. Ideally, we would love to be able to pay people to do that."
Future plans
On the track's plans, Powell said,
"We have no shelter for our users, and we may be able to do things like football. I took somebody the other day to a walking athletics event - that sounds a little bit strange, but for older people who just want to get out and walk somewhere safe, it's flat, so they're not going to fall, and then there's a social aspect of that as well, because we can offer teas and coffees and things in the building once we get it, so we're hoping it will open it up to a wider group of potential users, so I would say probably that's our vision at the moment, long-term, if somebody gave us like two million pounds, we can make a beautiful building, but we're quite realistic."
Waterlow concluded:
"I'd say the best thing would be to join a club like Striders. Or if you're into triathlon, there's triathlon clubs that use the track, or there's a theme, there are women's only groups that also use the so I'd say, if you want to have that extra support from coaches and be able to meet other people, I'd say the best route would be to join one of the local running clubs who use the track and join in their sessions."
And whilst options for solo training are available, there are many avenues for new runners:
"Most of the sessions are open to all abilities anyway. So if you're not that confident, you will be able to find someone who's at your pace at our sessions."
As a user, Waterlow offered one of her prime memories in her time using it:
"We had one event about 10 years ago now, where we tried to replicate the world record for the marathon, but as a relay team. So that was a really good event. And I think, yeah, it's a really good track to be on, because you've got the Abbey in the background [which] is within the park, so it's just a nice environment to be in, and you can have that real camaraderie on the track. So yeah, lots of good memories of group sessions and group events."
A fine resource
Over the years, then, Abbey View Community Track has helped literally the highest and lowest in abilities. This is from elite Olympians, through to local youngsters and the elderly. It helps people through mental health challenges, and also helps others to make friends and train in safe locales.
The decision to retain the track as a community resource has proven a sound one, with associated health and social benefits. The 2024 operational handover from the City and District of St. Albans Council has proven to be a prudent one.
So, amidst the backdrop of a large public park steeped in the Empire of Augustus and his successors, the residents of the city of St. Albans can continue to keep fit, healthy, and happy in kind.