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Cycling

Velodrome set to be among the first venues finished in 2008 as cycling gets a permanent legacy in London

THE VELOPARK will be located in the Olympic Park and comprise both a Velodrome (pictured), staging the track cycling, and an outdoor BMX circuit.

The funding for the Velopark was confirmed in February 2005 and the project was scheduled to go ahead whether or not London’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics was successful. However as the bid for the Games was successful the Velodrome will be built with a spectator capacity of 6,000 rather than 1,500. The £37 million project is due to completion in 2008.

The other facility at the site which will be used for the Olympics is the outdoor BMX racing track, which will also have a spectator capacity of 6,000. The Velopark will be situated at the northern end of London's Olympic Park.

In addition to the two Olympic venues the London Velopark will feature a 1.6 kilometre road racing circuit, a cross-country mountain bike course and an outdoor cycle speedway circuit.

The new track is also a crucial component of British Cycling's ambitious facility strategy, which includes plans for four covered 250 metre velodromes in the UK.

London will be the third world-class indoor track cycling facility, following earlier ones in Manchester and Newport, whilst there is every indication that the fourth track will be built in Edinburgh or Glasgow in the not so distant future. The London facility will make an excellent regional base for British Cycling’s Talent Team programme, which tests over 30,000 children across the nation annually, in the search for future Team GBriders.

The Velodrome was developed bearing in mind both the needs of the 2012 Olympic bid and the region's long-term needs for a track cycling facility. British Cycling maintained from the outset that the Velodrome needed to be a permanent facility and not temporary, as the early plans suggested. Velodromes have good “pre-build” and “legacy” characteristics: they are relatively cheap to build, extremely economical to run and attract a high number of users from the local and regional community.

The men’s cycling road race could kick off the 2012 Games on July 28. The race would start in Regent’s Park and take in many of London's world-famous landmarks, including St James’ Park via Tower Bridge, St Paul’s and Regent’s Park. Part of the route is to be trialled in the 2006 Tour of Britain in August.

Weald Country Park (pictured) will host the mountain bike events. Seating for 3,000 spectators will be built around the Mountain Bike course in the Park, and many thousands more will be able to get close to the action as the course winds through the mature woods and parkland.

The Park is on the North east fringe of London. The Park has been established for 700 years, and the remains of an Iron Age settlement have been found on the 500-acre site. The current layout is largely the result of landscaping in the 18th century. It is managed by Essex County Council.

Most of the current lakes and tree-lined avenues are the result of landscaping work carried out in the 17th century.