The running track of a refurbished stadium in Heilongjiang province’s Tonghe County, in north east China has hit a bit of bump in the road.

The traditional oval was dropped and bizarrely replaced with a rectangle!

Labourers working on the running track said they had to hurry the design so it was ready in time for a visit by state officials in China.

One local said: "Does the designer have a square brain?"

The stadium has been impressively built but the normal curved corners on the rubber surface had quickly become worn.  Unfortunately this coincided with senior Communist Party leaders announced plans for a last-minute visit to the stadium, a quick makeover was needed.

A stadium official said painting right angles was faster than painting curves.

“In order to get it ready for the leaders, we painted it like that. We think it is ugly too but if the leaders don’t ask us to change it, what are we supposed to do?”

Zhang Yong, a long distance runner, said: “It’s impossible to run on such a surface."