Prince George athletes stand to reap huge benefits from better facilities sure to come now that the city has been picked to host the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The longterm implications of Friday's announcement in Vancouver are positively staggering.
The Games will result in a $90.7 million shot in the arm for the city in operational expenditures and capital construction spending, much of which will be used to improve city sports facilities.
The Kin Centre area will be radically transformed in a $23 million project. Kin 1 will be levelled to create a new Olympic-sized rink for hockey, ringette and short track speed skating. Additional seating will be added and more dressing rooms and washrooms will be built to serve all three Kin Centre ice surfaces. Existing change rooms and food service areas will be expanded and upgraded. Office space will be built in Kin 3 with windows that overlook the adjacent outdoor ice oval. The Exhibition Park oval will have its own building, equipped with a changeroom and washrooms, and there will be seating built for spectators, as well as a padded wall for the skaters at the entries and exits of all corners around the 400-metre track.
"For speed skating, it's the best thing to happen to us in a long time," said Duane Swan, president of the Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club. "Our facilities will be upgraded, we'll get new mats, new safety equipment, and there will be opportunities for officials to be upgraded."
Swan said the possibility exists the Games track will include a refrigerated ice surface.
See Saturday's Citizen for more
