Kotzebue, AK

Out near the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in western Alaska lies the village of Kotzebue.  With a population slightly over 3,200 people and a total area of fewer than twenty nine square miles, Kotzebue lies a chilly thirty three miles north of the Arctic Circle.  A short block away from Kotzebue Gun & Pawn is this doll-sized track.

I’m pretty sure the shape just north of it is a baseball field of some sort.  Here is a picture of the track with a scale, so you can get a good idea of how really quite tiny it is.

Maybe they play croquet on that square inside it.

Pompano Beach, FL

Today’s track takes us to the beautiful tropical climes of southern Florida: Pompano Park at Pompano Beach.  Home to a standardbred harness racing track, all the racing that is done at Pompano Park is at a specific gait (trot or pace) while the horses pull their drivers in a sulky: a small, two-wheeled cart.  As always, click for a larger picture.

If you zoom in, you can see that the horses on both tracks are traveling clockwise.

It looks to me, from the shadows, like there is a pretty tall wall on the outside of the track right there, which would block a view of the track for anyone who didn’t feel like going into the casino.  So what are those cars doing out there?  Are we all unsuspecting witnesses to illegal arms dealing?

Ushuaia, Argentina

Today brings us another extreme: the southernmost track in the world. A thorough perusal of the larger settlements in Antarctica has lead me to the conclusion that there are no tracks on the entire continent, though I would be happy to be proven wrong.  The track we’re looking at today comes to us from South America, and is located in the city of Ushuaia, Argentina.  It is the capitol city of the Tierra del Fuego Province in Argentina, and commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world.  It is only fitting, then, that it should be home to the world’s southernmost track.

There you have it, a track and two sports fields, at approximately 54°48′S 68°18′W.

Honningsvåg and Gratishaugen, Norway

My friends, today I have some amazing news: I have found what is possibly the world’s northernmost track.  For this amazing discovery, we travel to Honningsvåg, Norway, population 2,375, located at 70°58′N 25°58′E.  Now, it is totally possible that this is just a soccer field, in which case I have another track for you, but look at that shape and tell me people haven’t been running around it.

If it is not the case that this is an actual track, then the title goes to this track in Gratishaugen, just outside of Hammerfest, Norway, at 70°39’31″N 23°42’26″E.

And that, my friends, is unmistakable.

Baghdad, Iraq

Guys, I tried really hard to find a track in or near Najaf, Iraq, just so I could post pictures of Wadi-us-Salaam, which is arguably the largest cemetery in the world.  Unfortunately, it appears that Iraqis would rather play soccer than simply run for fun.  Today, then, I bring you a track from the University of Baghdad.

And yes, apparently they have a space research center.  I was going to tell you that it’s the only track in Iraq, but I guess they have these, as well, probably for horses, or maybe camels.

Also, there’s this.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is known throughout the world as one of the richest, most well developed countries in west Asia.  Abu Dhabi itself is one of the world’s largest producers of oil, and with all that wealth, they know how to have a good time.

Yes, that says “Camel Race Track”!  To the south of that, there’s this:

Another camel track?  Is it that whole thing, or just that weird gingerbread man?

Then, to the west, there’s this!

I’m just getting started.  This place is covered with shit that looks cool from above.  Here’s Al Dhafra Air Base, for instance.

Down at the south side, they have one of those video game things that speeds you up when you step on it.  This is how they launch supersonic fighter jets.

I don’t know, the whole thing just looks really cool.

This is the Al Gurm Resort.  It also looks neat.

And here we have another track, a horse racing track, at the Abu Dhabi Golf and Equestrian Club.

Just to the east, you can see a whole crapload of tennis courts, too.  I guess they’re blue over there?

And what is this, a pool?  A bunch of pools?  I don’t know, it won’t zoom in any further!

Then there’s this?

Really, you should just go see it for yourself.

 

Petite-Île, Réunion

A tiny island off the eastern shores of Madagascar, Réunion is one of the 27 regions of France, and as such, part of the Eurozone.  You don’t really need to know that; I just like the word.  Anyway, much like the Hawaiian islands, Réunion is the result of a volcano emerging from the ocean, as is evidenced by the way they have to build their roads.

As you can see towards the center of the picture, the commune of Petite-Île has a beautiful track in their stadium.

If I could, I would do the entire island, but those roads make my eyes hurt.

Wagga Wagga, Australia

I’m going to level with you.  I was cruising around on google maps, looking at place names, and I thought this one was funny.  It made me think of some Fozzie Bear knock-off, “wagga wagga wagga!” so I zoomed in to check it out.  I was NOT disappointed.

The first thing to catch my eye was the Murrumbidgee Turf Club.  According to the website, it covers 70 acres and has five horse racing tracks of both grass and sand of varying lengths.

Here’s a closeup of the northwest corner, where you can see the two outer grass tracks and the three inner sand tracks.

This track alone was a wonderful find, but my trip to Wagga Wagga didn’t end here!  About a mile south of the Turf Club we have this gem:

Two in one!  A high school perhaps?  Another horse track?  Google doesn’t say.  Don’t worry, that’s not all!  Starting at around 3/4ths of a mile west of the Turf Club are these tracks!

If we head to the southeastern part of the city, we find these (you can click the picture for a slightly larger version).

And those aren’t the only ones!  Here’s what we see if we zoom out a little (again, click for a larger version).

I’m pretty sure there are at least eleven tracks in this picture.  This city is not fucking around.  And there are still more tracks for me to show you.  In this next picture, you can see the Murrumbidgee Turf Club and the four tracks to its west down at the bottom, plus six (I think) more tracks to the north, one of which looks like a sleep mask.

Also, to the south of the sleep mask we have this thing, which is probably a quarry of some sort, but I like to think of it as some sort of cosmic love note.

I apologize for not giving you close-ups of all the tracks in Wagga Wagga, but at least I managed to show you all of them.  Oh, except these ones, off to the west.

And what is that thing in the southwest corner?

… and I’m spent.  If there are more tracks in that area, you go find them.

Bora Bora

Today, let us journey down south, all the way to French Polynesia and the island of Bora Bora.  Located west of Tahiti, it is an incredibly popular tourist destination, famous for its exotic resorts.  No joke, this is what all the hotels look like:

Some dude in a canoe brings you breakfast every morning, and your glass coffee table lets you see into the ocean without even going outside.  Seriously.  Someone take me here.

Here’s what the island looks like from above.  It’s surrounded by a reef; you can see the airport (a single runway) at the northern most point of the reef.

On the main island, in the southern bay, we have the Tennis Club de Bora Bora, featuring three tennis courts, and a big ol’ track.

While some resorts feature tennis courts, this is, as far as I can tell, the only track on the island.  I’m going to guess that the local high school doesn’t have many rivals.

Iceland, six miles south of 63.962401,-20.355463

Here’s another one that’s out in the middle of nowhere.  I like these ones.

While there may be roads in the middle of this image, there are certainly no cities that google maps thought were worth mentioning.  If we zoom in, though…

Horse track?  Runway?  The world may never know.