Dusty work: Marlborough Boys College First XV members and helpers, from left, Tom Wilson, 17, Bevan Moody, 17, Shaun Otway and Michael Tuipulotu, 18, were among the team removing the old tennis court surface at Forrest Winery Marlborough Tennis Centre, in Blenheim, on Sunday
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Two courts at the Forrest Winery Marlborough Tennis Centre have been ripped up for replacement.
The $50,000 job was started on Sunday and Marlborough Tennis Club operations manager Rob Wilkinson said it should be completed in a week if the weather improves.
The two courts to be resurfaced are the only ones at the Parker St centre, in Blenheim, that have an artificial turf-like surface. The other 14 are a rubberised material.
The club has 345 members but the wider association of clubs in Marlborough using the courts is more than 500 players.
Resurfacing the two courts is the first major redevelopment at the club since 1996 when the old artificial turf surface was laid. That makes the job about four years overdue.
"Usually this kind of surface is only meant to go down for 10 to 12 years," Mr Wilkinson said.
"These are well past their use by date, they've been down for 16."
The two courts are for older players and the work has been paid for by the club and the Marlborough Seniors Tennis Association. A senior in tennis is anyone over 35. Older players like the surface because it is slower and kinder to their joints.
The surface had to be ripped, cut and rolled to remove, and it was all done by hand with the help of 20 Marlborough Boys' College First XV players as a fundraiser for an overseas trip.
"There was a lot of weight in the turf and it was really dusty because of the sand," Mr Wilkinson said.
Almost all of the old turf will be recycled to schools for cricket wickets, playgrounds and high traffic areas, and some club members have also taken pieces home.
"Very little will go to landfill," he said.
The surface looks like plastic woven carpet, compacted by sand.
One of the major differences with the new surface is that the lines are woven into the surface, not laid separately. It will also not be so susceptible to moss.
The new surface is laid by hand, like carpet, and conditions have to be dry.
Once the new surface is laid it will take some time to bed down, with players finding it slower and with a bit more spin, till the end of the first summer, Mr Wilkinson said.
This is the first phase of the courts' redevelopment.
Next up is replacing the rubberised "plexi-pave" on the club's feature courts. The two courts are used for major finals and competitions.
After that the back bay of six courts will be improved, with funding assistance from the Marlborough District Council's sports development plan.
The re-surfaced courts will be officially opened on June 30. The tennis season starts on September 15.
- The Marlborough Express
