hardness

USC coach Lincoln Riley said after the Trojans’ victory in the Las Vegas Bowl, “There’s a toughness and a hardness that’s developing within this program.”

“There’s a toughness and a hardness that’s developing within this program right now,” Riley said.

The time groundstaff have between county games is not sufficient to prepare and roll a pitch to the hardness of an international surface.

"We examined different sand shapes, finding a sand that would give us hardness, combining elements of clay, silt and particle distribution to make sure that we had a high-binding strength soil," says McKay.

"We had a fabulous Mondo track at the Athens Olympics. I like the hardness of them. I definitely feel that they are a lot faster than tartan tracks," says Ms McCambridge.