A group of running enthusiasts is pushing a plan to develop a public track on an underutilized portion of Brooks Park behind McKinley Middle Magnet School.
Varsity Sports owner Jenni Peters, who has promoted running in the community for nearly three decades, is behind the plan to lay a 400-meter track on a roughly four-acre site off Dalrymple Drive near the Raising Cane’s Dog Park. She has assembled a group of business leaders, community activists and fellow runners to help build momentum for the idea. Until recently, several local high school tracks were available for public use, she says. But as those facilities have been upgraded, they’ve become closed off to the public.
“There’s no public track in Baton Rouge,” Peters says. “That’s a shame because there is a serious fitness community in Baton Rouge that is way underserved in terms of that kind of stuff.”
BREC officials were initially slow to warm to the idea, but Superintendent Carolyn McKnight says she supports the concept and will do what she can to help, though BREC cannot afford to actually construct the facility. Architects with Peters’ group have estimated could cost as much as $600,000, though maybe far less.
“I’m excited about it,” McKnight says. “I know the running community would appreciate it, but there are a lot of others in the community that would appreciate it as well.”
McKnight says BREC officials need to meet with administrators from McKinley to get their input and buy in. The magnet school opens onto Brooks Park, and the school periodically uses part of the proposed track site as a football or soccer field. But Peters says the track would be an asset to the school, whose students could train on it.
In order for the public track to become a reality, Peters’ group will have to raise the funds to make it happen. One way to do that would be to sell naming rights to the track. McKnight says if the private sector comes up with money for construction, BREC might be able to contribute by providing parking or signage.
“If this is something they want and they’re willing to step up and make it happen, I’m on board,” McKnight says.
—Stephanie Riegel
