NANAIMO — Months after riders unofficially returned to a new layout, the Marie Davidson BMX Park is officially open.
Renovations, which cost $1.9 million, were completed over the winter and riders were allowed back at the facility just prior to Christmas, however the City held an official grand opening for the park on Sunday, May 4 under sunny skies.
Designed by Tom Ritz, who has past experience building Olympic-level tracks, a bigger start hill and new layout aligns the park with world-class facilities eligible to host World Cup-type events in the future.
A double track down one of the straightaways contains different hill grades for different levels of rider. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)The race surface is primarily a glued-down recycled concrete mixture, which enables near-year round racing and practice sessions for local riders.
Upgrades began with a focus on the starting gate in 2019, however substantial work was needed on the gate’s hill which forced a more large-scale project.
A complete re-design of the track’s layout provides not only a better racing surface, but a longer one as well with different options in the track for riders of different skill levels.
Around 150 people attended the park’s grand opening. (Kyle Ireland/NanaimoNewsNOW)Future goals of the facility include adding in a timing system.
President of the Nanaimo BMX Club Craig Hashimoto told NanaimoNewsNOW in December, a world-class track with a suitable timing system would position the city to host high profile events.
“Whether we can look at doing World Cup events, there’s a lot behind doing something like that that we’ll have to consider, primarily because of the different sanctioning bodies involved. We do have the potential to be hosting more, larger events.”
The federal government contributed $1.5 million through its Canada Community-Building Fund, administered through the Union of B.C. Municipalities.
Remainder of funding came from the provincial government and local club fundraising efforts.
A new starting gate system was the original goal for the project, however the aging course was eventually replaced in its entirety. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)Subscribe to our daily news wrap. Local news delivered to your email inbox every evening. Stay up to date on everything Nanaimo and Oceanside.
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