By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| The K+S Potash Canada Multi-sport Centre. |
The newest
building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds first started earnestly
housing user groups inside its doors during the start of this past winter’s
skating season. The Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club was the first user group
that got to take advantage of the new structure.
Lions
President Chris Veeman said the storied speed skating club enjoyed settling
into the new stomping grounds.
“We’re getting used to this new home, and so far, so good,” said Veeman. “The upstairs viewing area and the timing rooms are really fantastic.
“We’ve been able to run some meets pretty easily, because it is has been easy for us to set up electronic timing. It has meant that our kids can have some races where we don’t have to have a whole army of volunteers, so that has been really good. The change rooms and all of that are nice and new and functional.
“That has worked out well.”
The Multi-sport Centre replaces the old grandstand at Cairns Field, which was torn down in April of 2018. The old grandstand was used by both the baseball and the speed skating communities.
The new building, which has 20,000 square feet of space on its two floors, will be used by the baseball and speed skating communities along with the track and field community. The Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval that is located to the west of the Multi-sport Centre during the winter months converts into the Track and Field Track during the summer months.
The Track and Field Track was first used in 2019.
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| A timing and announcer booth overlooks the Oval. |
Along with
those features, the Lions and those that came out for public skating were able
to use an indoor sitting area that was made to allow people to change into
skates.
For the
maintenance staff, they made great use of the comforts of a new Zamboni garage
located on the building’s south side.
On the ice, the Lions
usually held practices four nights a week from December to February and often
hosted club speed skating meets on Saturday mornings. Challenges with the
ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic didn’t allow the club to host any
competitive meets this past season.
During
speed skating and track and field meets, the west side of the Multi-sport
Centre can seat 1,850 spectators and can be expanded to seat 3,500 spectators
with temporary seating.
The Lions
put the new electronic timing booths to good use at club meets, and that was a
feature the club couldn’t believe it went without in the past.
“It is a lot easier to run an event,” said Veeman. “In the past, we had a couple of huts that were outside, and that is where our timers would be.
“They would be crowded into a little kind of a wooden hut. It was challenging to set up the electronic timing equipment, because you basically had to haul it between the two huts for different distances. It is hard on the equipment, and it just slows things down.
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| The official’s lounge at the Multi-sport Centre. |
Jason
Reindl, who is the Head Coach of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Track
and Field teams, said the track and field community is looking forward to using
the Multi-sport Centre.
“It is just a huge addition to how we are able to kind of orientate our practices and our track meets,” said Reindl, who is the Head Coach for Athletics Canada’s under-20 team along with holding a number of other elite coaching positions. “Any time you can offer meeting rooms and officials spaces and a timing booth that can withstand inclement weather, they are all benefits to just kind of increase the professionalism of hosting a track meet in Saskatoon at the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.”
Reindl was
pleased to hear the speed skating community was happy with the timing booths,
and he said the track and field community is looking forward to using that
feature of the Multi-sport Centre.
“It really just provides a stable environment for our timers,” said Reindl. “So much of track meets operates on very tight schedules, and when they can just sit in a nice warm room and don’t have to worry about rain or wind or any of those things, it just goes a long way to providing a great environment.”
The east side of the Multi-sport Centre serves the Cairns Field baseball park. By the end of the 2021 baseball season, user groups were able to utilize the new stands that ran along the Cairns Field baselines and inserted on the second level of the Multi-sport Centre behind home plate.
The east side of the Multi-sport Centre also contains a new scorers and statistics booth, a new media booth and an events office to serve users of Cairns Field. There is also an official’s lounge on the second floor that can be used by all sports groups.
“It is going to be great knowing that fans have a place to sit,” said Greg Brons, who is the High Performance Director for Baseball Sask. “The dressing rooms are going to be nice.
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| An area to change into skates at the Multi-sport Centre. |
“We’re really looking forward to those facilities for sure.”
The new Multi-sport Centre will allow the baseball, speed skating and track and field communities to hold bigger competitions and potentially nationals.
Reindl said the new building will be a huge benefit in going after national track and field championship meets.
“That is going to be the primary reason why that will happen,” said Reindl. “The bid process to secure championships is quite competitive across the country.
“With this venue, we’re now able to actually able to put our name in the hat and try and secure some of these larger scale events and bring hundreds and thousands of people to Saskatoon and bring tourism dollars and let them know that we have a great city, and especially in the summer, you definitely want to take advantage of all that the city has to offer.”
Brons said the Multi-sport Centre makes it more possible to bring the Baseball Canada Cup and potentially other national events to Saskatoon.
“It will help quite a bit, especially because we need meeting space,” said Brons. “We need areas for fans to sit.
“I think it will be an ideal spot for the Canada Summer Games in the future or any national tournament maybe another Baseball Canada Cup, because we hosted it back in 2015. I think the most important thing is just a good playing surface is one of the most important things when it comes to hosting a nationals or a Canada Games more than anything.
“It is going to be a real nice bonus to have a good building.”
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| A look at the Multi-sport Centre from Cairns Field. |
“Having this new facility, I think it would be attractive to the people that are awarding those competitions,” said Veeman. “The big competition that we have is a brand new indoor oval in Quebec City that was just finished.
“Once there are more meets, because COVID has still cancelled almost all the meets this year, I think we will have a good chance to host some of those big ones again for sure.”
