Avantidrome debt free by 2020
The Avantidrome is moving closer towards its goal of being one of New Zealand’s premier sports facilities.
Its annual financial report was shared by its chairwoman Susan Paterson recently, outlining the venue’s success.
Financially, a $58,000 drop in revenue on the previous year was offset by a $92,000 reduction in expenses.
The increase in use has helped the facility break-even for the year ending March 31.
New grants totalling $138,891 were received from the Grassroots Trust, Pub Charity, Trust Waikato, and the Frances Skeets Charitable Trust.
The Avantidrome’s board received a boost when the Brian Perry Charitable Trust wrote-off a $450,000 debt in exchange for providing access to visitors staying in the Podium Lodge, which was being developed by the trust.
The goal remains to clear all debt by 2020. It would put the Avantidrome in a good position as it looks to investigate expansion to meet the expected demand.
‘‘Underpinning the Avantidrome’s success is its governance structures,’’ said Paterson.
‘‘The velodrome has become one of the premier sports and recreational facilities and a real asset to the people of New Zealand.
‘‘Remaining a key focus, is increasing the awareness and participation in track cycling and other healthy activities available to everyone.
‘‘Where else in the world can the community use the same track as our elite cyclists and Kiwi mens sprint triple world champions?’’ she said.
Figures support the community embracement, lifting its track hour usage from 3528 to 4205.
This is made up of various activities with a large number of recreational competitive, schools disabled, elderly riders along with riders who are members of the Grassroots Trust/Waikato BOP Performance Hub and high performance team all up on previous years.
One of the biggest gains in usage is for the Wheels in Motion Trikes Programme. There were 40 riders three years ago and 2767 over the past year at the Avantidrome.