£12m Alexander Stadium revamps nears completion

A £12.2 million upgrade has almost been completed at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium that will see the venue become one of Britain's principal athletics venues.

As well as the creation of a new stand facilities at the venue have been updated in time for a major competition at the venue next month.

In just over three week's time the stadium on Walsall Road will host the Diamond League, with a star studded line-up of athletes competing in the ninth stop of the premier global series. Around 250 athletes will descend on the stadium on Sunday, July 10 for four hours of competition.

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This is followed by the UK championships later this year and then in 2012 the venue will host the USA track and field team who will spend the five weeks leading up to the London 2012 Olympics training there.

Stadium manager Kevin Levack said: "We knew if we wanted to get the big competitions here we would have to upgrade some of the facilities and one of the main things we had to do was increase the capacity."