Cinder track

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title: "Cinder track" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["playing-field-surfaces"] description: "Race track whose surface is composed of cinders" topic_path: "general/playing-field-surfaces" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinder_track" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Race track whose surface is composed of cinders ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/ChalkTrackLining.jpg" caption="1964 Summer Olympics]], the last [[Olympics]] to be held on a cinder track"] ::

A cinder track is a type of race track, generally purposed for track and field or horse racing, whose surface is composed of cinders. For running tracks, many cinder surfaces have been replaced by all-weather synthetic surfaces, which provide greater durability and more consistent results, and are less stressful on runners. The impact on performance as a result of differing track surfaces is a topic often raised when comparing athletes from different eras.

Synthetic tracks emerged in the late 1960s; the 1964 Olympics were the last to use a cinder track.

The Little 500 bicycle race at Indiana University is still run annually on a cinder track.

References

References

1. "cinder-track vs. all-weather track times". Letsrun.com.
2. "Track & Field News • View topic - Kip Keino's 3.34.9 at altitude 1968". Trackandfieldnews.com.
3. [http://www.olympic.org/tokyo-1964-summer-olympics Olympic.org] - Tokyo 1964 - accessed 2011-08-09

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::