CONTRACTORS will make a second attempt laying an athletics track once graced by Olympians Steve Ovett, Daley Thompson and Sally Gunnell after making a faulty start.

Withdean Sports Complex will close for three weeks at the start of September for the work - just two years after the track was relaid at a cost of £350,000 to Brighton and Hove City Council and Sport England.

Brighton and Hove City Council said the repair work is needed to correct “fractional miscalculations”.

But athletic club members say contractors were up to three inches out on lane markings and carried out unsatisfactory work.

Clubs are now looking for an alternative venue during the closure but their choices are limited as nearby Lewes Athletics Track is also being relaid at the same time.

It is not the first time the council have asked contractors to try again, with slabs outside Brighton Railway Station relaid in July, as well as a section of road in Goldstone Villas, Hove, a year ago.

The track, which is used by hundreds of athletes every week, was reopened to much fanfare in 2013 with Olympic gold medal winner Sally Gunnell returning to the track where she had learnt her craft.

It was intended as a long-term replacement to a track which had been laid in 1980 but athletic club officials said it was already showing accelerated wear and tear on top of mistakes made in its installation.

Bob Willows, general secretary at Brighton and Hove City Athletics Club, said: “It is a shame that they couldn’t do the properly in the first place.

“You would hope it would be a simple enough thing to put the line markings down but in some cases they were about three inches out.

“When we were putting the hurdles out some would fit in the lanes and some wouldn’t.

“They filled up the bottom of the sandpit with a load of stones and bricks which they shouldn’t do and they didn’t drill the take off boards properly so they fill with water.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “Unfortunately the contractor fractionally miscalculated the required width of some of the lanes and so they have agreed to re-coat the entire track and paint new lines.

“These works have to be undertaken when the weather is warm enough but outside of the athletics season in order to minimise disruption.

“The athletics clubs have been fully consulted and the work is being carried out of the athletics season.”

The spokesman added the firm had "admitted fault" and would be meeting the cost of the new work.