Ashton Playing Fields provide a variety of sports and leisure
facilities across their 50-acre site in Chigwell, Essex.
Home to Woodford Green and Essex Ladies Athletics Club amongst
others, the track and field surfaces are arguably the jewel in the crown.
Dan Sweetman, who has recently taken over as Centre Manager, was
delighted to be greeted to his new position by a spotlessly clean running track
thanks to Replay Maintenance and their unique AquaTrax process.
(Before AquaTrax treatment)
Managed by Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure (RCL), the
in-house maintenance team for the facilities is shared between a number of
sites in the vicinity.
“We have a team that can pick up the groundcare tasks we can’t
take on ourselves” explains Dan, “and anything above that is then conducted by
external contractors. We try to keep on top of the cleaning of the track but
it’s a high wear surface, in use daily, so naturally you get a build-up of dirt
and detritus over the months and years.” With the last external clean taking
place nearly three years ago, Replay Maintenance were called in to conduct a
deep clean.
“Replay were first recommended to Vision RCL by UK Athletics, and
having looked at the work they conducted at other tracks, we decided to call
them in and we’re so glad we did – the result is amazing. The operator came in
and just got the work done, and when he left it looked like a brand-new track
had been laid.”
(After Aquatrax treatment)
Aquatrax is a unique process, combining pressure washing and
vacuum extraction. The machine applies pressure water jets to dislodge the dirt
before a vacuum extraction system removes the dirty water to a tank on the
machine leaving a clean surface, free of contaminants. First developed for the
maintenance of polymeric athletics tracks, it has since been adapted to clean
dirt and algal growth from unfilled or water-based synthetic pitches.
“With the packed schedule we run here, it’s important for us that
maintenance work is conducted in a timely, and thorough fashion. More
importantly we’ve had great feedback from the users, especially Woodford Green,
who are over the moon with the condition of the track.”
Following the clean, the track was then re-lined by Premier Line
Markings - Pete Hopkins added, “the track was cleaned to an exceptionally high
standard, one of the best that I have seen in many years. Once we finished over
marking the existing lines, it looked like a new track”.
