PITCH & LINE MARKERS
University of Leeds get Consistent Professional Lines with the Turf Tank One
hen it comes to line marking ,
W quality and consistency are key , and that is why the
University of Leeds use the Turf Tank One .
With 14 full-sized grass pitches for football , rugby union , rugby league , lacrosse , ultimate frisbee and American football , the grounds team at Leeds has their work cut out for them . As predominately winter sports , all of the pitches need to be ready at the same time , taking weeks of work initially marking at the height of the cutting season .
Head Groundsperson , David Thackray , joined the University from golf and , after analysing the operation , wanted to find a more efficient way of line marking , which led him to the Turf Tank One .
“ The reason I started to look around at autonomous markers was that I found a real inconsistency with how staff marked pitches . They all marked them slightly differently , and the set-up was long and laborious , and that ’ s the main reason I started looking around at autonomous markers because it gets rid of the man bit of it .
“ Now , we ’ ve got more consistent lines , and I know exactly how much paint we ’ re using per pitch . We can let lines disappear and not have to keep things overmarked , which saves us a lot of time and all in all , I think it ’ s working really well for us . It makes everything more consistent and more professional .”
Paint saving , time-saving , and quality lines have been welcomed by the University of Leeds team , who have embraced the Turf Tank One as a tool . With it , they can focus on the attention to detail tasks that could often be sacrificed for line marking , with initial marking that was taking two people two hours now taking one person less than an hour .
“ You see videos online of how it works , but until you see it on your site and see it in person and how easy it is to use , you won ’ t actually believe it ’ s that easy . Get yourself a demo , get the product onto your site , and look at it for yourself ,” Groundsperson Robbie Thackray explains .
“ With the robot , we know that every time it marks out , as long as you set it up correctly , it ’ s going to do the exact
“
Paint saving , time-saving , and quality lines have been welcomed by the University of Leeds team , who have embraced the Turf Tank One as an essential tool .
38 GroundskeepingJournal . co . uk | September / October 2022