A two-man crew made quick work of repairing a pair of sinkholes in the Aldergrove Athletic Park’s east synthetic sports field, Monday morning.
The field had been closed by the Township of Langley on October 20, due to safety concerns about players injuring themselves on the uneven ground.
The repair crew was sent by the contractors who had built the pair of artificial sports fields a couple of years ago.
The crew said that the fields would be ready for play again immediately and that the repairs would be invisible once complete. The repairs consisted of cutting out a small piece of astroturf above the sinkholes, filling the depression with gravel, then hot-gluing a patch and the top cover back on.
There have been no problems with the west artificial field, which was built from scratch, with gravel and drainage in the base. However, the east field was built atop an existing gravel sports field as a cost-saving measure, and it’s likely that a long-ago buried rotting stump or other organic material had caused the small depressions or sinkholes at the south and north ends of the field.
In any event, the field should be cleared for safe use right away for both sports groups and the students of Betty Gilbert Middle school. Both of the artificial turf fields are very popular play areas for the school’s students, who pack the fields during recess and lunch hour.
