Fort St. John Puts Out Welcome Mat for CWG Speed Skaters
Fort St. John, B.C.- The city of Fort St. John is prepping for the arrival of the speedskaters, coaches and the team supporters to their community.
The Canada Winter Games had to go to plan ‘C’ when it was clear Mother Nature was not going to cooperate by creating create cool enough temperatures overnight to allow for early morning competition on the outdoor ice oval.
The early start was plan’B’ for the ice oval, but despite efforts by the volunteers to prepare the oval’s surface, the long track events just weren’t going to happen in Prince George.
So equipment that was borrowed from the Pomeroy Sports Centre’s speed skating oval in Fort St. John is on its way back to that facility.
Craig Stanley, Director of Facilities & Grounds for Fort St. John says staff will begin preparing the indoor oval immediately “We offered the use of the Pomeroy Sport Centre to the Canada Winter Games as the contingency facility and we are ready to jump in and help out.”
“These athletes deserve a high-caliber event. Ice quality can make or break their speed skating career. We are very proud of the facility that we have and we are very pleased to be able to support the Canada Winter Games by ensuring a successful speed skating event,” stated Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman.
Competition is expected to start at the Pomeroy Sports Centre on Wednesday. The Centre is only one of four in all of North America with an indoor Olympic sized ice oval.
Comments
Ft St. John will indeed be very welcoming to the speed skaters. It can be a friendly place, and they have a beautiful facility up there. Have you ever tried to get a room in FSJ on short notice? Where will the athletes and their attendants be staying?
Exactly what I thought about; News2me, when I heard they were moving the event.
Athletes, coaches, and support staff have always been housed in schools and sleep on foamies on classroom floors. Any other accommodation would be cost prohibitive with the large number of athletes involved. The host community arranges to have the schools on spring break during the time of the the CWG, so the athletes are not disrupting normal school operation. Hotel/motel room is needed only for people who have no official function with the provincial teams.
Since only one sport is going to FSJ, and few non-participants travel from other provinces to attend, the accommodation in FSJ should be able to deal with the issue.
The CWGs have been planning for years. All sports and venues have back up contingency plans. Of course the ice oval was included due to the risk of weather issues. Fort St John has hotels already reserved, ice time booked, and all other plans firmly in place – for well over a year. Give the PG and CWGs folks some credit here – these games are unbelievably well planned and professionally run by some excellent people.
I wonder why they couldn’t have used liquid nitrogen on the oval here to freeze it more deeply?
Comments for this article are closed.