Forget everything you thought you knew about unique athletics tracks: the Lydex stadium shatters all conventions. Integrated within the facilities of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat-Salé, less than half an hour from Morocco’s capital, it features a truly unique design. The inner area includes a lemniscate (a figure-eight layout that evokes the infinity symbol), which merges with another central circular athletics track. The competition areas, on the other hand, are separated from the main athletics track. The entire installation bears the signature of Mondo, thanks to more than 25,000 square meters of Sportflex Super X 720 K39 athletics track, a surface certified by World Athletics that guarantees the ideal combination of energy return, comfort, safety and durability, and which in this facility is presented in three colors (red, cognac and ruby red).
The construction works of this athletics track were completed last year by Prof Green, a subcontractor of TGCC for the sports division, who relied on Mondo for the athletics track installation.
Every detail of the Lydex athletics stadium at UM6P in Rabat is more surprising than the last. It is easier to start with the traditional elements than with the unusual ones: the athletics track has a ring with eight lanes, 400 meters long. So far so good, but the rest of the track design breaks all the mold. The inner area of the ring includes a lemniscate with a raised crossing point, so the athletics track passes both above and below. The infinity symbol is perfect except on one side, where it is “squashed” to make room for the 3000m steeplechase lane. Around this intersection of the “eight” is another perfectly circular athletics track layout that borders the central track at the top and bottom.
All lanes and inner areas of the track are equipped with Sportflex Super X 720 surface, which has also been used in the grandstand area, creating new and original areas for training. Approximately 18,500 square meters of Mondo flooring have been installed throughout this area.
If the track is truly original, so are the areas for jumping and throwing events. They are not part of the inner loop zone but are located in three independent spaces adjacent to the stadium, each equipped with more than 6,800 square meters of Sportflex Super X 720 athletics track.
Two rectangular zones host several lanes for long jump and triple jump (with four pits in total), high jump, pole vault runways, and three throwing zones. These are complemented by a third independent module featuring a runway for javelin throw.
The Mondo brand is also present in other buildings on this UM6P educational campus, where two Mondo Smart Systems LED screens and sports equipment have been installed in nearby pavilions
Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) is a higher education institution that offers multidisciplinary technical training to young people from Morocco and other African countries. It has approximately 6,000 enrolled students, of whom over 700 are currently studying in the new extension area of the UM6P campus in Rabat, located in the municipality of Hssaine (Salé prefecture). It is on this campus that this original athletics track is located. The Lycée d'Excellence of which it is part, offers high-quality academic and sports secondary education to future elite athletes, in line with the "sport-studies" strategy defined by the Ministry of National Education, Preschool and Sports of Morocco.
The Association de la Promotion de l’Enseignement d’Excellence (APEE) manages registrations at the Lycée Mohammed VI d’Excellence in Ben Guérir and the Lycée d’Excellence in Rabat, where this original track is located. At the UM6P’s Rabat campus, students can train in scientific and economic disciplines, as well as receive a sports education that integrates these subjects. High-level sports training focuses on disciplines such as swimming, judo, taekwondo and, of course, athletics.