Province investing millions into WinSport upgrades
Posted May 12, 2017 4:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province is putting $10 million on ice.
The money will go into upgrades and modernization of the sliding track at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.
“As we celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary, we recall the incredible pride of all Canadians in the historic successes of our nation’s athletes on the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton tracks, many of whom trained on this very sliding track,” Premier Rachel Notley said Friday in Calgary.
“As aspiring athletes from our province and our country continue to develop their skills in a world-class facility, we can look forward to many more of those golden moments. This investment in WinSport also means new tourism and business opportunities supporting a diversified economy for a more secure future and a better life for Albertans.”
The project is currently in the pre-engineering design phase. There are two components to the initiative: an upgrade of the refrigeration system to an indirect cooling system and track alteration to bring it in line with current Olympic standards.
Along with that, there will be new lighting and shading.
The announcement comes on the heels of a report showing WinSport contributes $120 million to Calgary’s annual economy, as talk ramps up of our city possibly bidding to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
However, on Friday, the province said the funding is completely separate from the possibility of Calgary hosting.
