Cycling Planet

CYCLING PLANET AFTER THE OLYMPICS WHAT WILL THE LEGACY BE FOR ORDINARY CYCLISTS ONCE THE OLYMPICS HAS LEFT LONDON? JOURNALIST DOMINIC BLISS FINDS OUT ABOUT POST-GAMES PLANS FOR THE VENUES his summer, if central track made of Siberian pine, all Olympic venues, the velodrome is best Britain’s Olympic surrounded by 6,000 seats. Precautions suited to a role as a public sports facility. cyclists get even have been taken to ensure the pine doesn’t So what about the other cycling close to the medal expand or contract in years to come. It disciplines? Snaking around the outside success they had was shipped over to London from Russia of the velodrome will be a one-kilometre in Beijing, the a year ahead of installation to give it time road cycling circuit and six kilometres sport will again be to acclimatise. And if you’re wondering of mountain bike trails – just four miles basking in glory. But why the building has been nicknamed ‘the from the City of London. (Older cyclists any victories in London won’t be the only pringle’, just take a look at the roof. may remember the Eastway Cycle Circuit T legacy. There’s also bricks and mortar: the Kevin Owens is the man in charge of that once occupied this exact same site.) Olympic cycling venues. overseeing the design of all the Olympic The BMX track will remain but will be There are five of them in all. Two – venues. He says the organisers could have reconfigured for mere mortals who Hampton Court Palace and The Mall – are built a velodrome with 20,000 seats in it, struggle to negotiate the berms and simply backdrops for the time trial and and sold out every seat, every day of the whoops with the same finesse as Shanaze road race. And one, the mountain bike Reade and her peers. The original plans for course at Hadleigh Farm, in south Sussex, a BMX freestyle park and a cycle speedway will be dismantled after the games. (There “The velodrome have been shelved. are plans for a future off-road bike course and BMX track All levels of cyclist will eventually be there, but the local authority hasn’t yet allowed to use the VeloPark facilities, from given the green light.) will merge into a lowly amateurs right up to top pros. Major The remaining two venues – the cycling championships will be certainly be velodrome and the BMX track, both in the ‘VeloPark’ after staged there in the future. British Cycling Olympic Park, in east London – will be the say its riders will also train there, especially most significant Olympic legacies. They are the Olympics” in the main velodrome, although its set to merge into one vast cycling facility. headquarters will remain in Manchester. It will be known as Lee Valley VeloPark, games. The problem is, after the games, Shaun Dawson, boss of Lee Valley and is due to open to the public at the end they never would have attracted enough Regional Park Authority, is understandably of 2013, after the Olympics organisers spectators to fill the vast, empty space. upbeat about taking on the new centre. hand it over to Lee Valley Regional Park It would have been one of those dreaded ‘This venue will inspire a new generation of Authority. There will be facilities for track Olympic white elephants. ‘So we went cyclists of all ages and abilities and attract cyclists, road cyclists, mountain bikers and for 6,000 seats instead,’ Owens says. ‘The cyclists from all disciplines, making it a BMXers. roof is very low, the internal volume of the cycling hub for London and the region. It The jewel in its crown will be the building is quite small, the acoustics are will be a place where schoolchildren, clubs, velodrome, which will remain pretty much very clean and the spectators are all able groups and elite riders can train, race or as it is for the Olympics, with a 250-metre to see clearly.’ Owens believes, of all the just simply cycle for fun.’ 34 CYCLE APRIL/MAY 2012.

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