CONCERN MOUNTS OVER FUTURE OF CALGARY FACILITIES
Top section of Olympic Park sliding track demolished, with renovation plans on hold
Helen Upperton’s passion for sport is rivalled only by a love for her hometown of Calgary.
So it’s not hard to imagine how disappointed the former bobsled pilot feels about the state of Canada Olympic Park’s sliding track, which is out of commission for this World Cup season and has seen its future imperilled by an $8-million funding shortfall that stalled a $25-million reconfiguration and renovation project.
Upperton was eight years old in 1988 and thrilled by the spectacle of the Winter Olympics.
“It was just such a vibrant, powerful time to be in Calgary and it had a lasting impact on a lot of us. But as a kid, I didn’t think I was going to be an Olympian. I just liked sports and Calgary was a really cool city with cool stuff. Then bobsleigh kind of found me.
“So I would say people assume I have this opinion about the track because I’m an Olympian. But I actually have it because I’m a Calgarian.
“We’re one of the best sports cities in the world and we’re not going to be if we lose all this infrastructure. We will lose that underlying sport economy in the province,” said Upperton, referring to the significant financial impact of World Cup events and of athletes who come from other countries to practise on the track for weeks and months at a time.
“(People) look at the bobsleigh track and the ski jumps, the first two facilities under the axe, and they think, ‘Who cares about those sports? No one does them anyways.’ You can’t look at it that way because it’s a package. Because the next thing is the oval and then it’s the Nordic centre in Canmore, (Alta.) … It’s so sad.”
Upperton, who won a silver medal at the 2010 Olympics, was one of several current and former sliders who gathered at the track Thursday morning to bring attention to its plight. The top section of the track was at that moment being demolished under the direction of Winsport, the organization that operates COP’S facilities. Winsport president Barry Heck said the demolition “was always part of the renovation plan” and its $250,000 price tag was funded by grants tied to the expansion of the slopestyle course and modernization of the freestyle ski hill.
However, because the renovation project had been on hold, the demolition came as an unpleasant surprise to the track’s most engaged stakeholders, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton and Luge Canada. Their presidents, Sarah Storey and Steve Harris, issued a statement.
“We have been updated along the way, but have not been fully engaged in the process. Of course we remain hopeful and want to maintain trust in Winsport (that) they will do what is best to ensure this track continues to serve as (a) medal-generating factory for Canadian athletes across the country over the next 30 years the way it has over the last three decades. However, when you are told a project has been on hold and you see bulldozers ripping your venue out of the ground, we definitely have concerns for the future of our sports in Calgary and Canada,” the statement said.
Heck said Winsport remains committed to the track renovation project and has included the $8-million ask in a larger grant application to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program, a federal initiative he said will be incorporated in the Alberta government’s budget deliberations. He said Winsport needs about $100 million to fund renewal projects to extend the life of the entire COP facility for decades and allow another generation of athletes to flourish.
Lanette Prediger knows how important the track is to development. She’s been a skeleton athlete for 13 years, sliding recreationally while in medical school before joining the national team for World Cups and world championships, all because the track was in her back yard.
“I’m just a regular person, not a top-level sprinter, just a regular Calgarian going about my own business and because the track was here, it gave me the ability to come after school during my residency.”
She fell in love with the sport and had a knack for it.
“Over the past decade, it has become part of my identity. This is the first year in the past 13 years that I won’t be sliding, so it is actually heartbreaking to me.”
But plenty of Calgarians never set foot on COP facilities. Why would they want public money spent on a track renovation?
“I don’t know for certain that this track is the best thing for our city’s financial future, but my argument is both sides need to be heard,” said Lyndon Rush, a former bobsled pilot who is now a coach. “This track, it shouldn’t be put on the back burner. We should weigh out all sides of the argument before we just let it be forgotten.”
Over the past decade, it has become part of my identity. This is the first year in the past 13 years that I won’t be sliding, so it is actually heartbreaking.