Construction began in October 2023 on a new facility for the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa womenʻs track & field team and soccer teams. The facility is scheduled to open in fall 2024 and will include an NCAA-compliant 400-meter, eight-lane synthetic track and an NCAA-compliant soccer field located on the fields next to the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium where the football and soccer teams practiced.
The project is the second phase of the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex $30-million expansion approved by the UH Board of Regents in August 2022. The first phase was completed in August 2023 and increased crowd capacity at the Ching Complex from 9,000 to 15,000 seats and included the installation of the Aloha Stadium video board. UH has added 12,500 seats to the complex since 2022 to be able to host UH football games after Aloha Stadium, the Rainbow Warriors’ home field since 1975, closed without notice.
During the expansion to 15,000 seats, sections of the track at the Ching Athletics Complex were used, creating the need for a new track facility and an opportunity to eventually bring the soccer team back to campus for its home matches. With a few exceptions, the Rainbow Wahine have played their matches 17 miles from campus at the Waipiʻo Peninsula Soccer Stadium since 2000. The new facility will become the soccer team’s home field after a future project tentatively scheduled for 2025 will add stadium lights and a scoreboard.
“This project speaks volumes about everyone at UH involved in the retrofitting of the Ching Athletics Complex to the UH football team home games,” said UH Mānoa Athletics Director Craig Angelos. ldquo;It was already a miracle to have the facility expanded and ready for football just nine months after Aloha Stadium was closed and now we have turned it into a positive for our soccer and track teams.”
The project includes excavation work to level the practice fields and the installation of a retaining wall, drainage and irrigation. The track will include a steeplechase water jump, two long jump/triple jump runways, two pole vault runways, hammer/discus area and cage, javelin runway, shot put with throwing circle and large high jump approach area. The track and field equipment currently housed at the Ching Athletics Complex will be relocated to the new facility.
