TORONTO—While there are several large venues that stand out in Toronto for the Pan Am Games, there are also a number of city-owned facilities that have undergone major improvements in order to become venues and training facilities to accommodate athletes and leave a mark for generations to come.
The city’s Games venues are spread across Toronto, states a release, from North York to the waterfront, from Etobicoke to Scarborough, and throughout the downtown core.
The BMX Centre at Centennial Park in Etobicoke, in the city’s west end, is a unique venue that will be home to BMX cycling competitions. The 350-metre racing and training track has both a five-and eight-metre start. It was designed and constructed to meet Union Cycliste Internionale certification and will also serve as a legacy venue for competition-level events and can be used by the community for recreational use.
From cycling to swimming, the West Channel Watercourse at Marilyn Bell Park is another venue that saw upgrades for the Games. According to the City of Toronto, the channel will host open-water swim, triathlon swim, waterski and wakeboard events. A wave-attenuating structure was added to the north and south sides of the channel and water and road surfacing improvements were also carried out.
Approximately 16.5 kilometres of road running from Lake Shore Boulevard to High Park were resurfaced to provide smooth asphalt surfaces for road cycling and marathon courses. Grandstands were also erected for both water and road course events.
The Etobicoke Olympium has undergone various renovations, including improvements to the existing Olympic-sized pool and dive towers, and the replacement of major mechanical, electrical and life-safety systems, the release reads. Work also included a redesigned lobby and administrative areas. The Olympium will be used as a training facility.
Out of the water, a number of track and field venues were also revamped. Both the indoor and outdoor track surfaces at the Toronto Track and Field Centre were replaced. The centre will serve as an athlete training and warmup facility. The track surface at Birchmount Stadium was re-graded and replaced, as it will be used as a training venue as well. The track surface at Centennial Stadium was also re-graded and replaced and will be a backup facility.
Other City of Toronto facilities that are involved in the Games include the Donald D. Summerville Pool, a training facility for swimming; High Park is being used as a competition venue for marathon and road cycling; and L’Amoreaux Stadium is being used as a training facility for softball, the city explains.
Seen here is an installation outside of Nathan Phillips Square in celebration of the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. Toronto is host to some large venues during the Games, but there were also several city-owned facilities where major improvements were made in order to become venues and training facilities for athletes.
Photo: William Conway/Progress Photography"
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed