Milton velodrome announced
Will host Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games track cycling
Today the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games organizing committee formally announced its plans for the construction of a UCI-approved velodrome in the nearby burgeoning community of Milton, Ontario. The track will be part of a 154 000 square foot facility which will include indoor training and recreation facilities. It will be the sole track cycling venue in Canada that meets the criteria for international competition.
Able to house 2500 spectators during the Toronto 2015 Games, it will have permanent seating for 1500. The facility comes with a bill of $56 million dollars, $25 million of which will come from Milton and a private donor and the rest from the federal government. Construction will begin in February of next year; the track is slated to be open by the autumn of 2014.
Milton and nearby Halton are situated on the Niagara Escarpment southwest of Toronto and are popular destinations for cyclists with their challenging trails and road routes. Hamilton also bid to host the velodrome last year, but wasn’t willing to offer more than $5 million for its construction.
The timbered, banked oval of Milton – designed by Dale Hughes of elite WorldRecord Tracks Limited – will be a big boost to Canadian track cycling, as the national program will no longer have to rely on the Carson City, California velodrome for training.
