Experts warn poor facilities will hamper Capital medal hopes

Published on Thursday 21 August 2008 10:25

FOUR years ago, the future looked bright for sports in the Capital.

Edinburgh's residents were promised a new purpose-built athletics arena in the west of the city, a modern velodrome and a curling academy – all to be delivered by 2010.

Now, just two years before that deadline, the goalposts have shifted. The 109 million "vision" will not be produced on schedule.

As Edinburgh's sporting heroes – including Olympic triple gold medallist Chris Hoy – fly the flag for the Capital in Beijing and call for the Meadowbank velodrome to be retained, the quality of facilities available has once again come under the spotlight.

The lack of grassroots provision in some sports means there's a serious question mark over where cycling's next Chris Hoy or canoeing's new David Florence will come from.

Even elite athletes are facing a difficult future as they struggle to find decent training facilities in Scotland and are forced to move south of the Border to progress.

Athletes and coaches today launched a joint plea for more investment in grassroots and elite training facilities in Edinburgh and across Scotland, warning that without it, our future Olympic and Commonwealth hopes look bleak.

Some of the greatest concerns raised centre around the future of Scottish cyclists, who face enormous difficulties trying to train for their sport. Meadowbank's velodrome is still in operation but is described as being "badly out of date" and is earmarked for demolition. Scotland's only other velodrome is in Dundee, but that is in an even worse condition.

Cycling professionals warn that the only way to get new blood involved in the sport is to open more cycle tracks across the country, in addition to the new Commonwealth Games facility being built in Glasgow.

Marco Librizzi, a former team-mate of Chris Hoy, said getting rid of the velodrome at Meadowbank before the new facility opens in Glasgow will kill the chances of having any Scottish cyclists in the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

He said: "From an international level, having this one facility in Glasgow is fine, but from a grassroots point of view, we need two, three or even four across Scotland because parents won't be able to take their kids through to Glasgow all the time to train.

"All we need in Edinburgh is a 200m track that can be placed inside a building. It doesn't have to be international standard.

"The council insists it is working with sports governing bodies to discuss priorities for Edinburgh and has pledged its commitment "to creating a new track cycling facility" when the Meadowbank velodrome is demolished, but cycling isn't the only sport facing problems in the future.

Swimming, for example, suffers particular difficulties at elite level due to a lack of dedicated 50 metre swimming pools in Scotland.

While Edinburgh does have the 50m Royal Commonwealth pool – where a major revamp will get under way next summer – elite swimmers have to compete for water time with the public.

In the light of Hoy's success, first minister Alex Salmond said Holyrood would look again at the case for improved cycling facilities, it was reported today.

The City of Edinburgh Swimming Club, which trains Olympic swimmers Kirsty Balfour, Gregor Tait and Kris Gilchrist, has been forced to suspend business from the end of the month following a funding cut by the sport's governing body Scottish Swimming.

Chief executive Jamie Edgar said: "This is Scotland's capital city and I think the current regime has the responsibility to maintain and improve facilities for future generations."

Olympic silver medallist David Florence honed his talents on the Union Canal with Forth Canoe Club. The club says this proves Edinburgh can produce great sportsmen, but that there is room to improve canoeing in Scotland as a whole, as elite athletes have to train south of the Border.

Athletics, on the other hand, is considered to be well-served in Edinburgh for elite sportsmen and women, but experts say more could be done to make it easier for young people to get involved.

Bill Walker, chief coach at the City of Edinburgh Athletics Club, says

plans to move throwing facilities, for example, to the west of the city instead of keeping them at Meadowbank will put people off.

Councillor Deidre Brock, the city's sports leader, said: "We committed to over 30m of investment in sports facilities in our last budget and I think that's a very strong sign in terms of this administration's commitment to sport."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are investing millions in new grassroots facilities across Scotland, helping increase participation and nurture our sporting stars of tomorrow."