National team head coach Peter Eriksson, the architect of Canada’s six-medal performance in track and field at the 2016 Rio Olympics, surveyed the new track he hopes will help lead to further international success.
The $1.2-million training track officially opened Tuesday at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus.
“If we are not thinking about the next generation, the bottom will fall out of the program,” said Eriksson.
“This is our western training hub. This will be a place to develop our next generation of high-performance athletes. We are now able to provide a one-stop shop.”
PISE already includes an existing and wide-ranging array of facilities and services for national-team athletes such as coaching, video analysis, medical, physiotherapy, nutrition, weight training, testing and sport technology.
The 400-metre, four-lane track encircles the existing turf playing field and also has an adjacent incline training track. The running surface features the latest in technological design and is fully accessible.
“It is a track for the community, Camosun athletes and students and Olympians and Paralympians,” said Robert Bettauer, CEO of PISE.
“It is soft enough for the able-bodied and firm enough for wheelchairs.”
Funding came from a variety of public and private sources, including $250,000 from the provincial government and $154,000 from the federal Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program.
The track will be open to the public for running and walking outside of programming hours booked by national teams and Camosun College.
“It’s an incredible project and truly is a track for everybody of every ability,” said Michelle Stilwell, the Parksville-Qualicum MLA and B.C. social development minister, who won two gold medals in wheelchair racing at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
“This is the western training hub to achieve Olympic dreams. Who knows how many future Olympians and Paralympians will come out of this track.”
Stilwell noted the track will enhance what PISE already provides: “The [Olympic bronze-medallist Canadian women’s] rugby players trained here before Rio and that helped them achieve their goals.”
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