WET ‘N’ WILD
HOW RAIN HIT COAST SPORT
STATE title preparations for Gold Coast Cycling Club’s emerging riders have been thrown into chaos after heavy rain and flooding destroyed the club on Friday night.
Floodwaters completely devastated the Nerang Velodrome, tearing the track from its foundations. The pressure of the water was enough to push over surrounding fences and force open a heavy security door.
The grandstand and club cages were also flooded and club equipment and PA systems destroyed, with club officials estimating the water in the middle of the track stood at a depth of 2m early on Saturday morning.
It comes just a few years after the club grandstand and amenities block were upgraded as part of the mountain biking competition for the Commonwealth Games.
The Gold Coast City Council has also been at the club for the past month and closed the criterium track to undertake major works to improve drainage and then resurface the track.
A council spokeswoman said the council has closed all cycle tracks as they prepare to conduct a full assessment of the damage and work to repair and re-open the tracks once they are deemed safe.
“I haven’t seen anything like it,” club coach Nick Hewes said.
“We’ve had rain events before on the Gold Coast but nothing like this has ever happened.
“It’ll be a day or two until we know the full extent of the damage.” The cycling club management and committee member Damien McFarline added: “The amount of water must have been intense.” It’s a kick in the guts for the club, which has been preparing to send about 16 riders up to Brisbane for the state titles on Wednesday.
“We were hoping to run a last session or two before the event starts but now we’ll have to rely on the work we’ve done,” Hewes said.
“We also had a few kids who are part of the state team and needed these facilities to train at ahead of the nationals.”
McFarline said the club may look to make alternative arrangements to facilitate training for riders ahead of states and nationals later in March. “The club will be up and running again quickly and we can use the Luke Harrop circuit to train but we’ll have to wait and see what damage has been done to race equipment,” he said.
“We had two starting gates on loan from cycling Queensland to help us prepare for states and they have also been damaged.”
The club held a working bee yesterday to attempt to salvage equipment and local councillor Peter Young has also been quick to offer support to help the club rebuild.
THE CLUB WILL BE UP AND RUNNING AGAIN QUICKLY DAMIEN MCFARLINE