Edmonton spared no expense

Press, 1 July 1978, Page 10

Edmonton spared no expense

By

ROD DEW

Providing world-class facilities is invariably an expensive proposition for any city which accepts the responsibility of hosting the Commonwealth Games. More than SSM was poured into the venues for the Christchurch Commonwealth Games four years ago. Predictably, it resulted in a few grumbles from some ratepayers. However, this figure pales into insignificance when compared with the $31.2M which has been spent on facilities in Edmonton, where the XT Games will officially open on August 3. The mam stadium, alone, has soaked up more than SIBM. And this does not even include the swimming venue, as it did in the Christchurch Games. The Kinsmen Park Aquatic Centre, which houses four swimming pools, has cost an additional $7.6M.

“It is phenomenal,” said Mr A. W. Barrett, who was executive secretary of the Christchurch Commonwealth Games Organising Committee. However, he is not prepared to criticise the amount of expenditure without knowing the full background. “If they had to start from scratch, perhaps it is not unreasonable.”

Five new sports facilities of various sizes have been constructed specifically for the games. In addition to the athletics stadium and the swimming venue, new facilities have been provided for shooting ($ 7 8 2,0 0 0 ), cycling ($600,000), and bowls ($404,000). The Commonwealth Games Foundation, the Kinsmen Club, and the Federal and Provincial Governments are all contributing to the financing of these. Nobody appears to be unduly concerned at the amount, now that the Games are approaching.

Most Canadians involved are looking at the long ■ term use of the facilities, and the value the worldwide publicity of the Games will represent. A live television and radio audience of more than 500 M is expected. And some 50,000 visitors spending S7M are expected for the 10 days of the Games. “People overseas are always asking me where Edmonton is,” says Geoff Dyson, the Games sports co-ordinator. “After the Games, they’ll know, that k for sure.”

The main stadium is a multi-purpose facility designed to cater for communitys amateur, and professional sports after the Games. It seats 42,500 in plastic armchairs and this capacity can be extended to more than 50.000 by adding further seats in the four corners of the stadium.

A recreation area on three levels will be used by athletes, officials, and the news media during the Games. After the Games, the stadium will be used largely for football. It will also have a large gymnasium for basketball, volleyball, and badminton. A combat arena will accommodate such sports as judo, karate, boxing, weight-lifting, wrestling, rad gymnastics. The intention is to make full use of the stadium after the Games.

Squash and handball courts are also included in the design. The. stadium field is 11m below street level. A synthetic “proturf” 400 m athletics track .has been laid, along with a high jump fan and javelin runways. These latter two items will be removed to a different site after the Games.

The two longest events

on the athletic programme, the marathon and the road walk, will be over courses beginning and ending in the stadium. For the most part, they wind through residential areas which are shaded and protected from the wind. The aquatic centre was officially opened last December. As with the main stadium, it has been designed with an eye to use after the Games. It will provide year-round swimming, recreation, health, and fitness facilities. There are four pools,

holding some 4M litres of water. The main competition pool, the only one of its kind between Winnipeg and Vancouver, is eight lanes wide, 50m long, and two metres deep. The designers claim it is a fast pool.

There is a diving tank 25m by 15.2 m. The diving tower has four platforms — at three, five, 7.5 and 10 metres — and four springboards, two at one metre and two at three metres. The tank is equipped with a bubbler system which is said to soften the water. It is also equipped with underwater lights.

A warm-up pool, 5m long with six lanes, can, if necessary, be divided into two 25m pools. There is also a teaching pool. There is seating accommodation for 4700 spectators.

The track cycling events wilt be held on a new outdoor track — a 333.3 m concrete oval — in Argyll Park in the south-east area of Edmonton. The velodrome is the first to be built in the city and is expected to provide a considerable boost for the sport once the Games are completed.

Temporary seating for 3000 spectators is being provided. A tunnel will give access to the infield. After the Games, there are plans to use the infield for tennis. In the winter, the area will be flooded for social skating. An unusual ribbon-type course through the North Saskatchewan River Valley has been marked out for the cycling road race on the final day of the Games. Competitors will complete 15 laps of an 11km course. The route is fast, with an elevation change of only 45m. Pistol, shotgun, and rifle

shooters will be brought together on a new range constructed on Edmonton's south-eastern outskirts. Known as the Strathcona Range, it was the last of the five new Games facilities to be designed. It includes facilities for a 50m pistol range with four sets of turning targets, a 50m smallbore rifle range with 50 targets, and a 100 m rifle range.

There are also four international trap ' and skeet ranges, and allowance has been made for American-style trap and skeet fields for postGames use.

Although Edmonton was already blessed with five lawn bowling clubs, it was found that none had greens which met Games requirements, either in technical or capacity terms. Because of ■ this, four new greens had to be constructed at Coronation Park in the north-west area. These have been in use since 1976. Boxers in the Edmonton Games will fight in a building which dates back to the Coronation of King George V and the Festival of Empire, the 1911 forerunner of what was to become the Commonwealth Games,- Edmonton Gardens, as the venue is known, was formerly the home of professional ice hockey.

The wrestling will be : held in the University of Albertas main gymnasium, part of a huge physical education complex which also has two swimming pools. It is across j the street from the Games j village. Weightlifters will not I have far to travel from j the village, either. Their I contests will be held in ! the Jubilee Auditorium, a I concert hall built in 1956 I to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alberta as a province. It is next door to the village. The newest sport on the Commonwealth Games programme, gymnastics, ; will be staged in the Ed- I monton Coliseum, a fivelevel complex which could accomodate a 21-storey office building beneath the ceiling. It is regarded as one of the best professional ice hockey arenas in North America.

The University of Alberta’s ice arena, part of the multi-million dollar physical education building, is the venue for the badminton. It has six competition courts and three warm-up courts.