Track and field athletes will have a new place to practice their events with jump and throw pits installed at F.H. Collins Secondary School.

Athletics Yukon coach Don White said the community completed work on the shot put pit Friday after getting approval from the Yukon government earlier in the year.

The new official pits will allow for better training, White said, instead of practising on the grass. He noted it is a big difference, particularly for shot put, to practise throwing technique on the grass without the ability to spin.

For the recent 2017 Canada Summer Games, White said the athletes had to train with what they had, but had to adjust once they got to the competition sites they weren’t used to.

The track and field community and Athletics Yukon volunteers spent a lot of their summer working on the spaces and buying the wood, concrete — and lots of sand.

Athletics Yukon received funding from the Yukon Recreation Advisory Committee for the projects, White said.

The long jump pit was completed earlier in the summer, two weeks before the team had to travel to Winnipeg for the Canada Games.

So they had a bit of time to prepare using a proper pit, White said.

“We haven’t had a long jump pit in the area since the old track got taken out of service,” White said noting it has been about three years. “We had kids trying to train for long jump without having access to a pit.”

The approval from the government for these two installations also came with a setback. White said they didn’t receive the go-ahead to construct a hammer throw and discus pit — two more they will need if they want to host a large-scale event in the future.

White said it is not a guaranteed no, but discussions will continue with the government before a final decision is made about the additions.

But before the Yukon can host any regulation track meets, a new eight-lane track with all the necessary qualifications — including a water pit for the steeplechase — will need to replace the gravel track.