MONTREAL, June 15, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Hugh Boyd Park, strategically located in beautiful Richmond, British Columbia will become Canada's largest FieldTurf installation.
With a little over 258,000 square feet, the park's FieldTurf area will be able to accommodate 2 regulation soccer matches and 1 football game at the same time. Alternatively, the new Hugh Boyd fields can also be the host for soccer games on 6 miniature soccer fields simultaneously.
"This is another very satisfying coup for FieldTurf," said John Gilman, CEO FieldTurf Tarkett. We have been very active in marketing our product throughout the West, and we're delighted that the City of Richmond agrees that our product is the best artificial turf on the market. Our research and development, our installation experience and the proof of how a FieldTurf surface performs over many years sets us far ahead of anyone else in the industry. I think the city of Richmond will be very pleased with the FieldTurf product and all of the advantages it brings to a community."
"We decided that FieldTurf's 'DuraSpine' product is a big leap forward for the sports surfacing industry," said Marcus Liu, Project Engineer for the City of Richmond. "This engineered system is something that makes perfect sense for our community."
"FieldTurf is a state-of-the-art product that exudes excellence," said City of Richmond's Manager of Parks Planning and Design, Mike Redpath. "We wanted to ensure our teams had a first-class playing surface that can endure harsh weather conditions and constant use. This field will be Richmond's third installation of a FieldTurf Field. With a field surface this size, we are looking forward to the same level of product excellence from the FieldTurf company that our field sport community has come to enjoy."
North America's largest continuous FieldTurf installation will begin in August at the corner of Francis and No. 1 road in Richmond, B.C.
FieldTurf is currently in use in more than 25 NCAA Division 1-A football stadiums including Boston College, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, etc. Some CIS FieldTurf customers in Canada are Simon Fraser University, University of Ottawa, and McGill University to name a few.
In addition to its growing popularity in the college ranks, FieldTurf has already established itself as the turf of choice in the National Football League. Twenty-two of the NFL's 32 teams currently use FieldTurf at their stadiums and/or their practice facilities. The CFL teams playing their home games on FieldTurf are the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Toronto Argonauts, Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa Renegades. Also, three Major League Baseball teams use FieldTurf at their stadiums.
The list of world famous soccer clubs using FieldTurf is extensive. Among these clubs are the Vancouver Whitecaps, New York Red Bulls, Liverpool FC, FC Barcelona, Glasgow Rangers, Werder Bremen, and FC Lokomotive (Moscow).
FieldTurf is the result of years of research -- evident in the patented FieldTurf infill mix of silica sand and cryogenic rubber and the patented layering process that delivers a system which emulates natural grass. Additional benefits are found in improved player safety, reduced maintenance costs and flexibility for conversion -- allowing stadium managers to quickly change the field from one sport to another or to easily host a variety of sporting events, concerts and other special events directly on top of the FieldTurf surface.
Over the past few years, the quality and performance of FieldTurf's patented system has resulted in over 1,800 installations in more than 40 countries. For more information on FieldTurf, please visit www.fieldturf.com or call (800) 724-2969.