Educational Establishments
“
As well as the multiple student teams and clubs using our site, we hire out the facility to the general public and sports clubs
A Toro 3100D is one of a team of mowers used for grass cutting
drains and additional lateral drainage installed to assist water movement through the profiles.” “We do not have any undersoil heating,
lighting rigs or covers. We do have floodlighting systems on all of our synthetic pitches, as well as the main arena. We also have floodlighting on our main rugby and Gaelic pitches to cater for matches and training.” “Plus, we have irrigation options on site with our own bore hole supply and underground storage tank providing a main line supply to the grass pitches via two portable Speedy Rain 505 sprinklers. We also have pop up sprinklers to the main arena pitch and automatic sprinklers to the water based hockey pitch.” “As well as the multiple student teams and clubs using our site, we hire out the facility to the general public and sports clubs. We have multiple external users which include local community teams, schools, summer schemes, various sporting academies, and other major sporting bodies, such as the Irish Football Association.” “The senior Northern Ireland football
squad train here prior to international matches, as well as various junior and development squads.” As mentioned, the site at Upper Malone
extends to sixty-five acres. This consists of two enclosed grass arena pitches with grandstand seating, four synthetic pitches and a further nine grass pitches for matches and training. “We also have a trim trail which extends
around the facility to around 2.5km. Our main changing pavilion and reception area with function and meeting rooms is complemented by a secondary changing block further into our site which caters for overflow and weekend activities.” “Thanks to Northern Ireland’s
unpredictable weather, we have more than our fair share of wind and rain. Thankfully, with our aeration programmes, we try to minimise any closures by rotating play onto other areas when possible. We do suffer from frost, with the biggest casualties usually being the synthetic pitches. Thankfully, we generally escape the worst of the snowfall that other sites in the UK suffer from.” “We have a range of heights of cut to
cater for the variety of sports played. Rugby pitches are cut at 40-50mm; football pitches cut at 30-40mm; Gaelic cut at 30-50mm; main football pitch cut at 25-40mm and main rugby/Gaelic cut at 30-50mm.” “Our main arena pitches are cut two to
three times per week with a combination of a Toro 3100D and a 34” Dennis G860 pedestrian cylinder mower. We also use the cassettes to interchange for brushing, grooming and scarifying.” “Our remaining grass pitches are cut twice
a week with a combination of a John Deere 1905 mower, a Toro 3100D and a Major 8400 deck roller mower, attached to one of our tractors.” “Aeration is carried out monthly on all of
our grass pitches using a Wiedenmann XP8 with a combination of 20mm and 25mm tines. We also use a Sisis 1.5m multi-slit and a Blec 1.6m groundbreaker.” “Currently, we are awaiting delivery of a new Toro 648 ProCore, which we intend to use more frequently on our prime pitches, as well as other areas of high wear, including goalmouths and access points.” “We have a John Deere X740 rotary
We do suffer from frost, with the biggest
casualties usually being the synthetic pitches. Thankfully, we generally escape the worst of the snowfall that other sites in the UK suffer from
” The water-based hockey pitch; a casualty in heavy frosts 84 I PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015
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