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The site at the corner of Hollywood Road South and East Kelowna Road can be seen in the background behind MTBco bike park director Rob Cochrane. His group and the City of Kelowna will build and maintain the future skills park. (Photo Chris Stanford)
Local mountain bikers should soon have a new playground made just for them where they can safely get all the air they want.
With construction slated to start this week on a 3.4 hectare site at the corner of East Kelowna Road and Hollywood Road South, the joint effort between the Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan group and the City of Kelowna to create a skills and jump park will be one step closer to fruition.
“It will give them a place to go, somewhere to practice their skills,” said MTBco bike park director Rob Cochrane, who has been instrumental in getting the project going. With some 200 paid members, Cochrane and MTBco represent the biggest group of off-road cycling enthusiasts in the Central Okanagan, and he’’s already looking ahead to building other facilities that cater to the growing sport.
The facility to be constructed on the site will feature many jumps made of earth and other stunts and challenges designed to test all levels of riders from beginner to expert and will open next year for public use.
In a joint deal with the City of Kelowna, who are providing the land, along with $242,000 for design and construction costs and some ongoing support for future special events, MTBco will manage the facility, provide education and training and maintain the actual jumps and stunts.
In exchange, the city will install and maintain the peripheral landscaping, but both parties are also looking for some donated help to get the project finished by late November or December of this year.
“We need a loader, a bobcat and an excavator, as well as 1,500 cubic yards of clean fill and another 900 yards of another specific material to build the jumps,” said Cochrane. They would also welcome anyone willing to swing a shovel and assist with the construction in order to get it done before the winter season shuts down work.
The actual design of the park will be handled by Gravity Logic, a company based in Whistler, long a hotbed of mountain biking, while van der Zalm and Associates will be responsible for the landscape design. There will also be an on-site parking area, and it is hoped that there will also be a gazebo structure to provide some shade and relief from inclement weather.
From the city’s standpoint, this is a positive thing, but they also realize that mountain biking isn’t without the occasional scrape and bruise. “Safety’s definitely an element of the design,” said the parks and public spaces manager Andrew Gibbs. “Helmets will definitely be required.”
While Kelowna and the Central Okanagan area have a long history of mountain biking going back to the early-’90s and beyond, up till now it has mostly been on trails built on Knox Mountain, the Crawford area of East Kelowna, Gillard Creek in the Mission and other similar locales, but nothing like this has been done before.
With many jumps and a special skills sections where riders can hone their riding talents, it is hoped that the park will also bring in riders from out of town to test their mettle.
Along with the astronomical growth of the sport at ski areas like Whistler and Silver Star, which use their lifts in summer to access thrilling descents, Gibbs points out that municipalities like Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby, Kamloops and even Merritt have invested in skills parks, using taxpayers dollars.
“The upside of this is that you get a great facility, it may require a bit more maintenance, but this is a base to go off of,” he said.
According to Cochrane, Kamloops spent over $500,000 on their facility, and it runs on a budget of $35,000 to $50,000 annually. He added that the Kelowna park has been discussed for several years, but it wasn’t until earlier this spring that city council gave the go-ahead and designated the land and funding to help build it.
But in true mountain biker fashion, despite the hurdles they have had to overcome, Cochrane sees there will be a payoff once it’s up and running. “This will give some of the local up-and-coming riders a place to practice, but first off, it keep them off the streets.”
Those looking to help out can find out more by going to mtbco.ca. More information on Kelowna’s mountain biking trails and plans can be found on the City’s website at kelowna.ca.
250-575-3981
Local mountain bikers will soon be able to pull off stunts like this at the new skills park. (File photo Chris Stanford)
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sweet
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when is this park opening?
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