Triathlon Facility In Canada Aims Big
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Facility in Edmonton, Canada focuses on resurrecting the world indoor triathlon champs.
When Kevin Clark was hired as head coach of the Edmonton Triathlon Academy last year, it marked the first symbolic step of an ambitious plan.
The ultimate dream by local movers and shakers is to resurrect the world indoor triathlon championship, last hosted by France in 1991.
“Can you imagine?” said Clark as he observed the finish line at the 20th anniversary of the Great White North Triathlon on Sunday afternoon. “You’d finish a triathlon, then walk out into 10 feet of snow.”
Then maybe go skiing the next day.
Given the harsh climate Edmonton is blessed with, at the very least it makes a lot of sense to dream about an all-inclusive training facility in which this area’s burgeoning triathlon community can train year-round.
To get there from here, the ETA board has teamed up with Argyll Velodrome Project in a bid to construct a world-class facility at Coronation Park, the site of a triathlon earlier this year.
The facility would incorporate an indoor velodrome, a suspended running track above the velodrome — all as close to the existing Olympic-length west end Peter Hemingway pool as possible.
“It’s going to be a North American training facility for triathlon and cycling,” said Clark. “It’ll probably be one of the best facilities in North America for triathlon. If we can get it built in two to three years, it’s going to be perfect.”
Read more: Edmonton Sun