Bringing throwing back to Herts Phoenix: The regeneration of Gosling Sports Park

Like many other sports, track and field facilities throughout the country are facing ongoing challenges with their upkeep. Unfortunately, Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn Garden City is no different but thanks to support from the England Athletics Club Improvement Fund and local grants, the club have managed to recently replace the throwing facility.

We caught up with Gosling Sports Park’s resident club, Herts Phoenix AC, and East Regional Club Support Manager, Kirsty Fardell, to learn more.

Gosling Sports Park at the centre of the community

To many an athletics track is just somewhere people meet to run, jump, and throw but to Welwyn, it is much more than that. Gosling Sports Park is not only the home of Herts Phoenix AC, but also destination of many school athletics competitions, club league matches and more.  Speaking about the importance of the facility to the region, Club Support Manager, Kirsty said:

“The upgrading of the throws cage has meant that the facility is now fit for purpose for the club. The club boasts a large number of keen throwers who can now train safely again. Herts Phoenix AC are a fantastic example of a club who will go the extra mile to maintain their facilities with safety being the number one priority.”

The biggest challenges at the facility were the pole vault bed and throws cage not meeting current safety standards or TrackMark and were therefore deemed unsafe to use. This had a knock-on effect as no competitions using the cage were able to take place at the facility – a big blow for the local clubs and community.

Raising vital funds

When a facility comes into disrepair, the biggest challenge is often financial and how to raise the vital funds to make improvements. For Gosling Sports Park, it was a case of seeking out a variety of different funding streams.

“The sum we hoped to raise to undertake most of the works was £60,000,” explained the Herts Phoenix representative, Richard Bloom. “Most of our applications for funding were luckily successful and we received substantial funds from Gosling Sports Park Trust, England Athletics, GLL, Herts Phoenix, Herts Sports Partnership, Garden City Runners and some budget from a local county councillor. After all the donations, we raised £38,000 but were still £20,000 short of our target for all planned improvements.”

Therefore, the facility has had to prioritise and had chosen to focus their finances on upgrading the throws cage.

Taking steps forward

After working on this fundraising project for a year, it was fantastic to see the throws cage regeneration completed on 27 May 2024, with athletes able to give the cage a spin the following day! The velodrome on the outskirts of the track having also been recently renovated, the facility is looking much improved!

“The upgrading of the throws cage was the most essential item of work to be carried out, but it has also become a catalyst for further development of the facilities. The throws cage alone cost £15,000, and would not have been possible without the contributions of England Athletics and our other funding sources.”

Looking ahead to the future, the facility has big plans of what else they would like to upgrade.

“We decided that the upgrading of the shot put circle and board would be the next priority and have placed an order for this. We also thought it essential to replace the pole vault bed to be able to resume coaching and hopefully receive our full TrackMark status.”

Even with the funding and facility upgrades, it has still taken a lot of work from the local clubs, particularly Herts Phoenix to get it to where it is today:

“Only the in-field pitch gets mowed and therefore we have purchased our own ride-on mower and use it regularly outside the track and particularly around the throws cage. In September we have a ‘work-in’ day where volunteers are coming together to trim the edges of the track, do weeding, scrubbing and treating mossy areas.”