AN ambitious plan to build a £1.5 million running track in Winchester is off the starting blocks, says campaigners.

The purpose-built athletics track would cater for track and field competitors who currently have nowhere to train in the city.

The Winchester and District Athletics Club -- which has around 400 members -- now believes it has found a possible site at Bar End, after years of searching for suitable space.

The group is now facing a race against time to find the cash to build the track in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The proposed site is owned by the University of Winchester and Hampshire County Council. They are joining forces with the athletics club and Winchester City Council to deliver the scheme.

An eight-lane athletics track is proposed, along with an adjoining all-weather pitch on the university's sports ground off Milland Road.

The estimated cost is between £1.4m and £1.6m, and the team behind the project is hopeful that it can find most of the cash.

*For more on this story, see this week's Hampshire Chronicle.

*For more information about the running club, and to become involved in the campaign, visit www.wadac.org.uk