Welcome. It’s Adrian Bo from Ray White Park Coast East and this week as part of my local history series I’m on Boronia Street at Centennial Park to talk about one of the Eastern suburbs great sporting facilities, the E.S. Marks Athletics Field. Now this much loved local facility is currently undergoing a $4.8 million redevelopment due to be reopened around April this year. There will be an upgrade to the 400 metre synthetic track as well as the long jump and high jump areas. There will also be plenty of new trees planted for extra shade, as well as upgraded car parking including dedicated coach pickup, drop off zones and upgraded track lighting. An incredible 100,000 people use the facility each year including plenty of school and club sporting carnivals as well as the popular public training nights. Over the years some of the greatest athletes in the world have trained and competed here including Cathy Freeman, Carl Lewis, Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Maurice Greene. The track was constructed in 1906 with the original name of the “Sydney Athletics Field”.

In 1947 a cinder track was installed and the venue was renamed the “E.S. Marks Athletics Field”. It was named after a very well known athletics administrator and Lord Mayor, Earnest Samuel Marks. Marks had been a prolific local athletic champion and as an administrator was one of the founding members of the IAAF, the International Amateur Athletic Federation. He had also been the team manager for the 1908, 1912 and 1932 Olympic games as well as founding the Darlinghurst Harrier’s Athletics Club, the Manly Surf Club also and the East Sydney Amateur Swimming Club amongst other sporting organisations. He also became LM of Sydney in 1930. In 1956, a covered grandstand was built, and from the early 1960s, the Australian Athletics National Titles were held here. Then in the 1970s, electronic timing was established here and the track was resurfaced. The covered grandstand now has capacity for 8,000 spectators. The New South Wales Waratahs and the Sydney Roosters have used it periodically as a training centre. In the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the American athletics team also use the facility as their training base.

The development of Homebush for the Olympics reduced the major events held here yet the use of the venue has grown substantially since the Olympics. The venue also played host to a national soccer league team, Hakoah, who changed their name to Sydney City. Now E.S. Marks Athletics Field is in Kensington where the median real estate price has had a great run in recent times, now being $3,350,000. Three bedroom houses in Kensington now having a median price of $2.5 million. Four bedroom homes a median of $3,125,000 and five bedroom homes, a median price of $3.9 million. A one bedroom unit here has a median house or apartment price if you like of $665,000, a two bedroom unit at $905,000 and a three bedroom apartment at $1.62 million. I hope you enjoyed the story of the E.S. Marks Athletics Field, the new upgrades should put it back amongst the better athletics venues in the country and will hopefully produce the next generations of Cathy Freemans. Please enjoy the summer and always remember your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.