The new velodrome in Limerick, which was allocated €7.5 million in Government funding today, could compliment a large velodrome in the planning stages in Dublin, Cycling Ireland has said.
The national governing body's chief executive, James Quilligan, has said he was excited about the new Technical University of the Shannon (TUS) velodrome and believed international athletes could use it for training.
However, the facility would also help bring more riders in the sport, and develop more cyclists at the same time, which would be a huge boost for the sport in Ireland.
“Cycling Ireland operates across all cycling disciplines and is dedicated to promoting and developing the sport, and to developing new state-of-the-art facilities on the island of Ireland," Quilligan said.
“We are excited that we can now move onto the next phase in the development of City North Arena, which will help develop the sport here and allow international athletes to train here.
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“By providing a community-based facility with a 200m velodrome track, it will encourage participation in the sport and can act as a satellite feeder to the Sport Ireland Campus velodrome for events and the development of future representative cyclists.”
The 8,000 sqm velodrome arena in Limerick will also be be used for other sports – such as gymnastics, badminton, volleyball and tennis – and could be a university venue for exams, lectures and other events.
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Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) applied for planning permission to build the new indoor €15.4 million indoor velodrome in Limerick earlier this year.
It later teamed up with Cycling Ireland to sign a ‘memorandum of understanding’ about working on the project together.
Professor Vincent Cunnane, President of TUS, welcomed the funding confirmation, describing it as "a major funding announcement for a project of international and national standing and of major significance" for the Midwest region.
"City North Arena will be of direct benefit to Limerick and constitutes a major strategic element in the development of the northside of the city," he added.
“We are ready to embark on the next phase of this exciting development with our project partner, Cycling Ireland.”
Tom Daly, President of Cycling Ireland, said: “This is very welcome news and I congratulate TUS and all of the other partners which were involved in getting the project to this stage.
"I am very happy that Cycling Ireland’s partnership with TUS has been so fruitful and I am very much looking forward to this initiative greatly contributing to the further development of cycling in Ireland."
