Ottawa Pacers and Gloucester Concorde Skaters practise at the Bell Sensplex.
Members of Ottawa’s speed skating community want a refrigerated oval in Ottawa to end weekend treks to Quebec City, and some think Lansdowne Park is an ideal spot.
Ottawa has a large speed skating community, but doesn’t have the proper facilities, which means speed skaters’ training is affected when warmer temperatures melt the ice at the outdoor oval at Brewer Park.
With a refrigerated oval, the ice can still be maintained at warmer temperatures, says Leslie Derro, president of the Ottawa Pacers Speed Skating Club.
The club has almost 250 members currently. Skaters train at the indoor short track at the Bell Sensplex and at the Brewer Park oval.
When the Brewer Park oval closes, it can affect long-track speed skaters who are training for events, says Alicia Weiss, an Ottawa Pacers speed skater.
“If you can’t train on the 400-metre oval that you’ll be racing on, there’s still training you can do, but it’s not going to be the same,” she says.
That means many speed skaters travel to Quebec City on the weekends to use the refrigerated oval there.
While the club would like to have a refrigerated oval in Ottawa, it isn’t actively lobbying for one because it would almost be a full-time job the club just doesn’t have the capacity for, says Derro.
She says the city is also unlikely to pay for a refrigerated oval because it could cost upwards of $7 million.
Since the public can provide comments about a new urban park at Lansdowne, some speed skaters are taking the opportunity to suggest a speed skating rink be included in the design.
Weiss says she thinks Lansdowne is a good fit because it could be a multi-purpose facility.
“Lansdowne is ideal, because you’re right by the canal so if, for example, Winterlude ice melts out, you still have an ice surface that you can use,” she says.
Having a refrigerated oval would elongate the speed skating season, but Derro agrees it would also be for public benefit.
“The nice thing with these ovals is the ice is a lot smoother, so you’re not dealing with cracks the way you are on the (Rideau) Canal or rougher ice,” says Derro.
Although the club isn't lobbying for the oval, Derro says people have expressed their individual opinions that it would be nice to have a refrigerated oval at Lansdowne.
The City of Ottawa, the National Capital Commission and Parks Canada have been jointly collecting public opinions and ideas about what people think the new urban park at Lansdowne should look like.
The comments will be considered by the design firms involved in the Lansdowne urban park design competition, says Coun. Peter Hume. They’ve received more than 750 comments so far, he says.
“The important thing about this is that these ideas aren’t for the city,” says Hume. “These ideas are for the design teams. And whether they incorporate them or not, they are going to have an opportunity to review all of the comments, and determine whether it fits in their design.”
Each of the five design teams will create a design proposal to be released in May.
After another round of public consultation, a jury will select the winning design, says Hume, one of the seven jurists.
The process does not guarantee the public feedback will be used, though it provides a forum for speed skaters’ voices to be heard by the design teams.
Derro says she hopes the voices are heard, and that they can eventually have a refrigerated oval in Ottawa.
“It would be nice to see,” she says. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”