The Richmond Olympic Oval

Many of the venues for events like hockey, figure skating, alpine skiing and snowboarding are using facilities that already existed in Vancouver and Whistler. However, VANOC needed to construct new facilities for sledding, ski jumping and speed skating.

Speed skating will be taking place in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond at the new Richmond Olympic Oval (the ROO.) Everyone has been raving about the building and since I have been unable (so far) to secure reasonably-priced tickets to a speed-skating event I thought I would go have a look the other day.

The ROO is built in a lovely location on the banks of the Fraser River just south of the Vancouver International Airport. It is a huge facility that today houses the large speed skating oval but will be converted into a regional recreation facility after the Games. It will still be able to be used as a competitive speed skating facility for future events.

The sign outside said that the building was large enough to contain four 747 jets parked wing tip to wing tip.

It has received several international design awards particularly for the innovative use of wood for the roof. The beams and wood on the ceiling were made from trees killed by the mountain pine beetle infestation that has be plaguing the forests of British Columbia for several years.

The story from the athletes is that the ice is slow due to the lack of elevation and the closeness to the sea. It means is that skaters get less glide when they skate--an advantage for those with shorter legs able to get in more short strides. We'll see what happens in the competition.

Unfortunately due to the security perimeter I was unable to get too close to the building. I had to push my camera through breaks in the fence to get pictures. As a lasting legacy of the Games it will be a beautiful building when the fencing comes down.