Pan Am cycling ‘roller coaster’ built for speed
World records in jeopardy when 2015 Games begin, Olympian Harnett predicts
MILTON— The cycling track inside the still-under-construction Milton velodrome won’t be ready for another few weeks still, but even now Curt Harnett can hardly help himself. The three-time Olympic cycling medallist and Canada’s chef de mission for the 2015 Pan Am Games is like an impatient child who can’t wait to open a present. “Let’s take the wrap off and ride it right now!”
Unfortunately for Harnett, a fourtime Olympian who wore Canada’s colours while riding tracks like this for more than a decade, the wrap won’t be coming off today as construction workers continue to put finishing touches on the venue, which isn’t scheduled to open to the public until Nov. 1.
For now, Pan Am organizers offered a sneak peek to media on Thursday, touting the velodrome — formally known through the Games as the Cisco Milton Pan Am/Parapan Am Velodrome, and the Mattamy National Cycling Centre after — as a one-of-a-kind, multi-sport facility that stands to be one of the Games’ lasting legacies for Milton and the Halton region.
Located just east of Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area near Tremaine and Derry Rds., the facility will be home to an Olympic-regulation indoor cycling track, but will also accommodate basketball, volleyball and tennis courts, as well as a fitness centre and walking track. It will be the only world-class velodrome in Canada and one of just two in North America.
Beyond the Games, which open next July in Toronto and surrounding regions, organizers are hoping the velodrome will also become the home of Canada’s national track cycling team, which currently trains in the United States because of a lack of appropriate facilities at home. Harnett, Canada’s most decorated cyclist, also did the bulk of his training south of the border. “I want high-performance training facilities for our athletes, so they don’t have to travel the world to race and train,” Harnett said. “. . . At the same time I want facilities that generate interest in the community as well.” The $56-million price tag was shared between the federal government, through Sport Canada, and the Town of Milton, which will own the facility. The town covered nearly one third of the costs. It was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of August, but a brutal winter slowed construction. Organizers are confident it will be ready by November. The centrepiece is the velodrome, a 250-metre track built by world-renowned track designer Dale Hughes with Siberian spruce and Nordic pine wood. Hughes said Thursday that he designed the Milton track with both the elite and the developing athlete in mind, balancing the needs of highperformance training with “a track where we can get 10- or 12-year-olds to enjoy themselves.” The gradient ranges from 13 degrees at its flatest part to 42 degrees in the steep turns, Hughes said, adding that he thinks the quality of the track — “which optimizes the ability of the rider to go as fast as he can” — could contribute to world records at the 2015 Games. “We expect it to be very fast,” he said Thursday.
Harnett said the track was designed in “ideal” fashion, without compromising the needs of elite athletes or those still learning the sport.
The track was built with a milder grade as you enter the turn that steepens as you exit, which Harnett said plays to both the speed that high-performance athletes strive for and the safety and stability sought by still-developing young athletes.
While the multi-sport aspect of the velodrome is “critical” to its success, Harnett said that he expects some young athletes who come to the facility for another sport to feel inspired by the whizzing cyclists, riding the track’s waves. “It’s like riding a roller coaster.”
Tickets for the Pan Am Games go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. See www.toronto2015.org/tickets for more details.