Editorial: A tough decision to swallow

So we won't get a velodrome.
Not a National Cycling Centre of Excellence with all the bells and whistles, and not a budget, lower-spec version either.
Those who had doggedly kept pushing for an indoor velodrome, despite failing to win a government tender to build one, were given the bad news on Friday.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park Trust won't support plans for a pared-back, regional facility. It was the full monty or nothing.
A few months ago, there were all sorts of reasons why ratepayers should put up more than $10 million for a velodrome at the Sports Park - it would bring in money and visitors, boost the already strong local cycling scene, provide facilities for other indoor sports and a revenue stream for the Sports Park.
Now there's just one reason why we can't have it: Money.
Without the government's cash injection, and the guarantees that came along with the National Cycling Centre - such as hosting BikeNZ's national headquarters - the numbers don't add up.
But it's easy to see why those who had pushed for a cycling track in Hawke's Bay, long before Sparc offered up any money, feel a bit hard done by.
They've been lobbying for this for years, well before the idea of a national centre was mooted.
Even when the government's $7 million funding was offered through a tender, it seemed Hawke's Bay would have to be a leading contender - after all, the velodrome was our idea.
Things got a little more shaky when the tender documents came out, and Sparc was asking for a much higher-spec facility than had originally been planned, but Hawke's Bay was still offering a competitive package.
And then we didn't win. Waikato-Bay of Plenty did. We weren't even shortlisted. And though stung by the setback, advocates for a local velodrome thought that meant going back to square one, not tossing out the idea altogether.
After all, the reasons for a velodrome still existed, right?
Unfortunately, the funding doesn't.
And Sports Park chairman Lawrence Yule says an indoor cycling track is no longer the highest priority for the money that is available.
For those who have pushed for so hard and so long, it may be tough to swallow, but it seems the velodrome question has been finally answered.
The new question is: What now for the Sports Park?