Testimonials

Rola-Trac Flooring for Special Olympics in Dublin

The Special Olympics World Summer Games took place in Dublin's Croke Park Stadium, the largest sporting and cultural event ever staged in Ireland, where Rola-Trac Ltd installed a mammoth floor protection system, twice!
This event was the first to be managed by Rola-Trac's new sole Irish agent, Allen's of Allen's Bridge. Rola-Trac's Guy Wightman flew out from the UK to manage this huge logistical task in liaison with Liam Allen, providing invaluable help to the new distributor of Rola-Trac in Ireland.

The Special Olympics showcased the best in sporting skills from 7,000 of the world's top athletes with learning disabilities, hailing from some 150 countries. Ireland's successful hosting of the games was celebrated at the spectacular closing ceremony, attended by thousands of volunteers, athletes, delegation members and guests. The crowds were entertained by a wide variety of Irish and International music acts including the likes of Blue, Liberty X and Westlife.

The Rola-Trac flooring was shipped into Ireland for the 15th June, with the product and the team putting in a Gold Medal performance as 17 crew members covered 14,500 m² of the stadium (one-third larger than Wembley Arena) in 24 hours.
This load-in time was particularly pleasing for Rola-Trac as one of their competitors was installing a flooring system at Lansdown Rd over the same period, which was only 10,000 m² in size, but took the same number of men a day-and-a-half longer to complete. This reflected the efficiency and ease of use of the Rola-Trac product, enabling the team of freelance crew to complete the job within the strict timescale.

The Rola-Trac was laid down for the opening ceremony of the games, attended by personalities including Nelson Mandela, U2, the President of Ireland, the Corrs and Samantha Mumba. The flooring was then removed after the ceremony ended at 10pm, to allow air light and water back on the sacred turf. The Rola-Trac was stacked within the ground so the turf could be kept in premium condition; the Rola-Trac was then re-installed over the pitch for the closing ceremony, which took place on Friday 27th June.
Eamonn Ryan of MCD, production manager for the Special Olympics commented: "The Rola-Trac was really, really good - we took it up immediately after the games that night and the pitch was perfect for the next day. I was expecting some yellowing of the grass but there was absolutely no imprint or damage whatsoever. Even the chairs casting a shadow didn't negate the light penetrating through to the grass."

Rola-Trac's understanding of the needs of ground maintenance staff is key in the design of their products, ensuring flexibility and speed of installation and removal are top of their design brief. Their Rola-Trac and Super-Trac products lead the way for temporary flooring popular with events of all genres.

Covering the total pitch with the Rola-Trac temporary flooring manufactured by Rota-Trac Access Systems required fourteen and a half thousand square metres of material with fifty people employed to lay it down. The great advantage of using the Rola-Trac covering was that it's wheelchair friendly and wheelchair accessible. It is also the most technologicaly advanced ground covering in terms of grounds maintenance. The lightweight ABS plastic used means that there are no marks left on the grass. This material also allows light to penetrate which means that the grass underneath stays lush and flourishes.

Eamonn Ryan, Production Manager with MCD said of the Rola-Trac temporary flooring “It was really, really good – we took it up immediately after the games that night and the pitch was perfect for the next day. I was expecting some yellowing of the grass but there was absolutely no imprint or damage whatsoever. Even the chairs casting a shadow didn't negate the light penetrating through to the grass.”

Allens of Allens Bridge are a garden accessories manufacturing company specialising in greenhouses and polythene tunnels. They are the sole distributors of Rola-Trac flooring in Ireland.

Rota-Trac is an ISO 9002 company manufacturing Rola-Trac temporary flooring and the Supa-Trac Roadway system. The have many years experience within the decking industry and are a market leader in medium duty roadways, helicopter landing pads and pedestrian access systems.

The company has distribution networks in place that range across Europe and onward as far as Australia. The company has a truly global profile with a supply chain to match.

The Special Olympic games held in Ireland this year was an unqualified success. The perception is that the games were taken to a new level. The logistical organisation was massive and took years of planning. The excellent technological advance of the Rola-Trac temporary flooring was part of that success story.