Bike Trail beginning to take shape ahead of Western Canada Summer Games
One of the tangible benefits of hosting the 2019 Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current will be some new sports facilities in the area.
Cycling will take place from August 9-13 and will feature three stages. There will be a road race on Highway 332 beginning in Hazlet, an individual time trial on Highway 379 starting in Wymark, and a mountain bike and eliminator in Highland’s Coulee.
The mountain bike course is being created from scratch in the coulee area adjacent to 11th Avenue N.W., directly south of the Highland Subdivision.
Alex Man, a Geological Engineer and Trail Designer from Winnipeg, has been working with Matt Hadley of Mcelhanney Consulting Service Ltd. in Canmore to design the cross country bike trail.
“Matt and I were out in the dead of winter, I think it was February, some of the coldest days of the year. We did conceptual design, mapped it out with GPS. It was drawn up since then. We did the detailed design this last week on the ground. So there’s pin flags showing the exact alignment of the route, all the technical trail features that we want to build,” said Man.
Saturday marked the first day that work began on the bike trail after a trail building workshop on Friday.
“Last night they did an in-class workshop after work,” explained Dallas Philippon, one of the Cycling Sport Chairs for the Games. “Today the guys are out here just showing us the tricks of the trade, bench cutting, showing us how to cut into the side slopes and build a trail that flows nice and is user friendly and sustainable.”
“Today we are getting a bunch of volunteers out and just training them up so that they can work on some of the easier sections to build. We’re getting a specialized trail contractor to come in later in August to come and do the more difficult benching with machinery, special trail-building machinery,” explained Man.
Man said that it won’t be long until the trail will be ready for use.
“Once they leave it will be 100 per cent rideable. So by the end of the fall I think you’ll have something to ride. It takes time to season the courses. They kind of burn in… It’s just it smoothes out, gets fast, you get a little rain on it and it burns in really nicely.
We’re trying to do that here, trying to get it done for the fall so you have some burn in time before the Games actually happen.”
Man has been involved with trail building for the past 15 years. He also helped design the course for the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg.
“Basically what we are looking for is about a 20-minute lap. For this type of terrain we aimed for about five to six kilometres and I mapped it out yesterday and it was five-and-a-half exactly. What we try and do is make kind of a clover style course that’s really spectator friendly. The course comes back to a central area several times so you can stand at the top of a hill and pretty much watch your rider the whole time.”
Philippon said that Saturday’s trail building was one more step towards the Games.
“Yeah it’s awesome. I love it. It is starting to gain a bit of momentum I think. There is a little bit more energy. I can feel it around the community that people are getting excited. It’s really nice to see it take shape, especially just with the little bit of mowing that was done and people are starting to visualize what it’s going to look like.”
Philippon said that they would like to host a test event in the spring of 2019, possibly in May. “So we’ve got a little bit of work to do. We’ve got contractors that are coming out in August to start the machining and some trails, so it won’t be all hand built.”
While the trail is being designed to accommodate the Western Canada Summer Games, the trail system will remain in Swift Current and be maintained for public use after the Games.
“Yeah and it’s on city owned land. So we’ll have control over the management and how things flow in the future. In terms of a legacy, it’s city land, it’s a city legacy. It’s pretty exciting for it to be that accessible to people as well. I think it will get a lot of use, not only the cyclists, but hikers, walkers, joggers, people running dogs and so forth,” said Philippon.
Anyone interested in getting involved is encouraged to contact the Games office or the Swift Current Cycling Club.
“I just encourage people to reach out, don’t be afraid. There’s everything from picking up garbage to more heavy duty work. So if you’d like to contribute we’ve got all kinds of tasks that people can help with large or small,” he said.