Whanganui cycling community planning for busy summer following velodrome track replacement

The cycling season gets under way in mid-October. Photo / Bevan Conley

Resurfacing work at Whanganui’s velodrome is all but complete, with the focus now on getting the most out of the $2.5 million track.

A blessing ceremony to mark the completion of the project was held on Monday morning.

Whanganui District Council’s Rosemary Fletcher, the project’s director, said a final piece of handrail would be added this week, followed by official track certification from Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

“That will be well before the [start of the] cycling season, which is mid-October,” Fletcher said.

“Whanganui District Council, through our venues and events team, is working closely with Sport Whanganui and the [Wanganui] Cycling Club to activate the space for the community.

“For [the council], that means making sure we have all the health and safety [equipment and procedures] in place and a booking system ready to go.”

The resurfacing work was done by German company Velotrack.

Wanganui Cycling Club patron Ron Cheatley said the track had been shut for three years, but the ability to hold meets was impacted by its deterioration for two years prior to that.

“As a club, we are pretty much starting from the ground up now. We lost a lot of riders because of not having a facility here.

“We are concentrating on the youth and development.”

The club had a successful schools programme operating on the roads, he said.

“The desire is to attract those riders over to the velodrome, along with a big array of other people.

“There a lot of Masters riders in the area, and from Palmerston and Wellington, that want to get to the track.”

Fletcher said she expected most demand initially would come from schools.

“[The] council is keen to have this as a community venue, just like all our other properties.

“In the past, all the bookings sat with the cycling club, for good reason. The track was wearing and they needed to be very careful about use.

“We want to make it as accessible as possible. It will be more than a few brave souls.”

The council, cycling club and Sport Whanganui would launch the track with a community day, Fletcher said.

Ron Cheatley at the track in 2021. Photo / Bevan Conley

Cheatley said the club hoped for a few cycling carnivals over the summer months, featuring riders from across the North Island.

“We like to work with Wellington because they are close by and have already released a programme. As a club, we will interlock with their dates.

“Our riders go there and their riders come here. Then you’ve got riders from Manawatū and Taranaki who will certainly be attracted to anything we put on.”

The booking system would be user-pay to help with the maintenance of the facility.

“It won’t be expensive though, it will be a reasonable fee,” Cheatley said.

“There will always be supervision as well - a club person and someone qualified in health and safety.”

In 2021, a proposal to roof the velodrome was lost after Whanganui district councillors were split six-six.

The price tag was $20m, with $9m coming from the council and $11m from external funding.

Cheatley said roofing and protecting the velodrome would enable the venue to be used for more than cycling, be it rugby skills training, athletics or hosting shows.

“That’s ultimately the goal, but it has to be at minimal cost to ratepayers.

“It’s important to have a good, professional working group that has the ability to lobby central government and to attract funding from different sources, like gaming trusts, to try to get that second stage achieved.”

Because there was no roof, there would always be a quiet period through the winter, he said.

“As soon as the track gets a bit moist, you can’t ride.

“We would love to see those limitations be completely expired.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.