Video of new facility in Dundalk for proposed 250 metre velodrome in old JJB Sports building now in control of NAMA
By Gerard Cromwell
With Cycling Ireland’s ongoing attempt to build the country’s first ever velodrome kicked down the road for another couple of years by the government at a meeting last week, Dundalk based Cuchulainn Cycling Club have taken matters into their own hands.
They have announced plans to construct their own international standard velodrome in conjunction with Dundalk Institute of Technology (DKIT) and Cycling Ireland.
The three bodies plan to apply together for a sports capital grant from the Government by the end of this month, which could raise between €300,000 and €500,000 if successful.
Cycling Ireland appears to welcome the plan, though it has pushed the idea of a bigger velodrome in Dublin for some time. While the federation is continuing to study the Dundalk plan for a 250 metre track, it is expected to join Cuchulainn CC and DKIT in their efforts to seek as much funding as possible from the Government.
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An additional estimated €1.2 million will still need to be raised, probably by a combination of borrowing and fundraising.
With the aim of having the track up and running by September of this year, the proposed velodrome is to be housed in the old JJB Sports building on the outskirts of Dundalk. The building was recently purchased by DKIT and is just 500m from the college campus.
The facility is large enough to fit a velodrome and the plans to install one s Olympic velodrome. However, there would not be room for spectator seating, with terraced-style areas planned for spectators.
“With over 300 members, the Cuchulainn club is bigger than most GAA clubs in the country so I asked ‘why can’t we do something similar and build our own facility?’ said Karl Dolan of the Louth club.
“Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done. How this idea came about was in 2009 when we tried to get a program up and running for kids in the area and found so many obstacles in the way of getting them into cycling.
“People are reluctant to take kids out on the road with the traffic we have nowadays, so we had to come up with something else. In February 2010 we had a launch night for the 75th anniversary of the club and on the night I mentioned the velodrome idea to a guy in the club who is an architect and asked him to draw up a plan.
“I told him to take a random 10 acre field, where money was no issue and draw up a plan for a velodrome, a BMX track and an enclosed circuit around the perimeter.
“It turned out that he was trying to get an architectural business off the ground and used this as a project for his portfolio and we were blown away with what he came back with. Within six months we were offered six different sites to put the track onto.
“Dundalk Town Council was mad keen and gave us a site in Muirhevnamor. We got planning permission for an outdoor velodrome and they gave us a 150 year lease on seven and a half acres adjacent to the college.”
Although the site in Murihevnamor is still there, the new DKIT site across the road will now see the velodrome housed indoors in a building originally home to 12 indoor soccer pitches, a swimming pool, a gym, an ice-rink and a bar/restaurant.
The track itself will be a replica of London's Olympic Velodrome, built by Cork based PJ Lane Construction, while the new site also comes with an ample 500 car parking spaces.
It will also see a proposed BMX track built on an adjacent site to the right of the building, with the extra potential of incorporating a closed circuit cycling track around the perimeter also being explored.
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“I would see this as being a complete centre of excellence for cycling,” says Dolan.
“You have everything on one site. As well as that, there is plenty of accommodation as the student accommodation will be empty during the summer.
“I think Cycling Ireland spends €60,000 or €70,000 sending guys overseas to train on tracks and that probably only covers a handful of people. With the same budget at home in Dundalk you could do the same thing for a couple of dozen riders.”
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Having an international velodrome as part of their sporting campus would be a major coup for DKIT and in fact would make them the world's first educational institution to have such a facility.
Its presence would further extend its already excellent sporting pedigree and range of facilities and, in conjunction with its sports medicine departments, the Institute hopes to become one of the premier cycling facilities in the world, with college cycling scholarships also envisaged in the future.
With cycling Ireland having scrapped former plans to house a track in the Old Jacobs factory in Dublin last June, due to problems with lease agreements, the federation had set their sights on a €7million facility in Abbottstown in conjunction with Badminton Ireland.
This 250-seater velodrome with badminton courts in the track centre however is currently at an impasse until at least 2015/16 and is in a queue behind the construction of an all sports facility in Abbottstown.
It means the Dundalk project could be Ireland’s only real chance of having an international standard indoor velodrome in the foreseeable future.
The vacant JJB Sports building in Dundalk is being lined up to become Ireland's first ever indoor velodrome
Talk of a velodrome in Ireland has been rumbling on for decades and while this project still needs an estimated €1.2million in funding, it is not unreasonable to think that, with some help from the government and some fund raising, it could be up and running by the end of the year.
“We’re reasonably confident that the government is going to do something for us,” says Dolan.
“But the remainder is going to have to come from Cycling Ireland and fundraising. No matter what project they go with, Cycling Ireland are going to have to come up with some money.
“But if they simply levy members, maybe a fiver extra on a licence for the next three years or whatever, that’s a big chunk of change right there. To miss this opportunity would be just crazy.
“Cycling is on the crest of a wave in Ireland. We’re winning world championship medals. The Giro is coming. Cycling is the most popular it’s ever been. It’s now or never.
“The building is there. That’s the expensive part. All we have to do is put in the track. While 1.2m is a lot of money to you and me, in the overall scheme of things it’s not a lot. This has to happen. If this doesn’t happen... I’ll probably kill someone.”
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