Mt. Pleasant opens new track today

There are few people in the Charleston area who are as enthusiastic and dedicated to recreation as Mount Pleasant Town Councilman Gary Santos — so much so that he has been known to irritate his fellow council members.

It's not that other council members aren't supportive of recreation, but it's just that Santos, who has been a football coach for more than three decades, often is way ahead of them and sometimes throws political finesse aside when fighting for new programming and facilities.

Perhaps nothing has been as hard-fought on his part as a project to build a new rubber-surfaced track at the town's 59-acre recreation complex in Park West. He started lobbying for it shortly after taking office in 1996.

Today at 6 p.m., Santos and Town Council celebrate the fruit of that effort with a grand opening of the $1.17 million track, one of the last pieces of an impressive, multifaceted complex.

Even before tonight's opening, the town won accolades for it: a 2008 Presidential Award from South Carolina's chapter of USA Track & Field, the governing body of the sport.

"If you look at all the tracks in South Carolina," chapter President Jimmy Stephens said in a phone interview Tuesday, "it's right up there with Clemson, Winthrop and the new one at Myrtle Beach. It's easily one of the four best tracks in the state, and because it's new, probably one of the two best."

For the sake of full disclosure, Stephens used to work for the Mount Pleasant Recreation Department, but he isn't just saying that as a favor to Santos or his former employer. Stephens has track in his blood, is familiar with all the state's facilities and sacrificed life in the Lowcountry three years ago to coach the track team at the University of South Carolina-Upstate, formerly known as USC-Spartanburg.

All along, Santos insisted that the new track be built to collegiate specifications.

Besides the track's more joint-friendly, poured-rubber surface, it has eight lanes, electrical posts for timing equipment, three long-jump pits, high-jump and pole-vault areas, a nearby throwing area for shot put, discus and javelin (using a multiuse field), stands and an open shelter area, and even an area that can be converted to a water pit for steeplechase races.

By meeting those specs, the town will attract college track meets, not to mention youth competitions. Revenue from teams staying in hotels and eating in restaurants will pay dividends in the form of accommodations and sales tax revenues. Mount Pleasant is now a track-and-field destination.

Santos sees several more benefits.

As a teenager, he recalls attending a football camp at The Citadel in 1975 and being inspired by the coaches and athletes who conducted it. The next year, he started coaching recreation teams and hasn't stopped since. He envisions having youngsters who are part of the Mount Pleasant Track Club, which will call the Park West track home, help out at the meets. In the process, it will open their eyes to the dedication and power of college sports.

"I think it's important for kids to be around college athletes and coaches — to see what it's like to compete at that level," says Santos, who also was instrumental in starting the club nearly a decade ago.

Ultimately, however, a high-quality track is a practical, multiuse facility for the entire community.

I know a bit about track usage. For years, I've met with a group of runners for Tuesday night interval workouts and witnessed an array of activities and users. The truth about tracks is that the facilities (if open to the public) provide everyone — young and old, fit and not-so-fit, those in organized and pickup sports — with a safe, lighted place to exercise, especially at night and especially this time of year when the daylight wanes earlier and earlier.

I have seen hundreds of people at a time at a track, most of them moving. It can be a beautiful, surreal sight, especially on a dark, chilly, winter night.

For those who think the new track is too far on the sprawling edge of Mount Pleasant, Santos vows that the asphalt track at the Mount Pleasant Municipal Complex near the Cooper River bridge will remain open despite on-and-off talk of using the land to expand the buildings. Furthermore, he says that town officials are working with the Charleston County School District to install lights and provide public access to the track at the former Wando High School.

If that were to work out, there would be three tracks in three different parts of town. Most residents would be within two miles of each track. How many towns can claim that?

In an age when money's tight and waistlines aren't, tracks become simple solutions to provide people with a free, flexible and secure place to exercise. The new one is money well-spent. Three cheers for Mount Pleasant and Santos.

Reach David Quick at 937-5516 or dquick@postandcourier.com.