London, Ont.’s Forest City Velodrome marks a decade of cultivating Canadian talent

National Sports Day in Canada is a good time to reflect on the roles played by organizations and venues from coast to coast to coast, both big and small alike, in building the legacy of athletics in this country.

The Forest City Velodrome in London, Ont. is one of them — and it remains vital to Cycling Canada’s objectives.

Ten years ago, the Ontario facility officially opened for the first time. Looking back, the throwing open of its doors in November, 2005 marked another first for the province, being the first indoor velodrome of its kind in Ontario. It was also one of only two such velodromes in Canada. At 138 metres in length, its track made interesting with tight, 50-degree banked turns, the Forest City Velodrome would become listed as the shortest permanent track in the world, as the London Free Press describes.

By the account of those who have been closely involved with the velodrome since its unveiling, though that intimate scale lends itself to a significance made all the more meaningful on National Sports Day — when a focus on the future of Canadian athletics tends to take prominence.

“The fantastic thing is the [Forest City Velodrome] has provided a space for young kids to learn how to ride their bikes on the velodrome,” said local rider Jeff Schiller, someone who has known the boards of the London facility very well over the years. “They don’t have to worry about traffic; it’s a place to hone their skills. It’s become a great platform for them to put time on the track.”

In reports published by the London Free Press, founder Rob Good, who saw the Forest City Velodrome through its earliest years, views the facility he helped create as a small but intense proving ground.

The importance of such a facility, he says, can’t be overstated in an athletic scene mostly dominated by ice hockey and other winter sports, especially in Ontario. The way Good sees it, too, that importance is recognized by more than just those who just introduced the facility to the Canadian cycling world. Out of 22 riders who attend the Forest City Velodrome during an afternoon training session, 18 are from London, many of them new to the competitive saddle. It’s as organizers can actually see the next generation of Canadian talent being cultivated.

To Art Adams, who instructs much of that young talent at the Forest City Velodrome, it’s a grassroots labour of love to see it developed — and with much of the Velodrome’s support cobbled together financially, with volunteers steering its direction, the 10-year success of the London facility is all the more meaningful.

“This whole facility, in an old building the London Knights played in,” he said, “this whole facility is done with volunteers with whatever money we could scrape together.” It’s the enthusiasm of the young athletes who have made the Velodrome their home, ultimately, that he says has made it such a resounding success story since it’s opening.

One of those young riders put it simply to the London Free Press: “It’s wild, it’s fast, it’s fun,” said Emma Laenby, a 13-year-old first-time rider from Ilderton, Ont. “I love it.”