Invercargill ILT Velodrome
Encyclopedia
The Invercargill ILT Velodrome is the only indoor velodrome in New Zealand. The $11 million dollar velodrome is an indoor complex next to Stadium Southland
, built on the western side of the stadium proper.
The venue will also act as a home for the Southern Steel
netball side and Southland Sharks
basketball team for 2011, after the collapse of Stadium Southland
in September 2010, following a freak Southland snow storm.
That statement was a catalyst for Cycling Southland to further their plans of establishing New Zealand's first indoor cycling facility.
Many meetings were to follow and feasibility studies that were undertaken identified that the priority site for the new facility was adjoined to Stadium Southland, as part of the four court extension proposed for the existing facility.
A community fundraising venture was initiated by Harcourts Real Estate, a long time supporter of cycling in the south, who were keen to ensure that the Velodrome became an integral part of the Stadium Southland extensions.
Calder Stewart Industries was appointed as the project design and build company and a German Architectural Company, Schuermann Architects were appointed as the Velodrome designer. Negotiations commenced regarding the design and project costs and in August 2005, the groundwork commenced to signal the start of the $8 million project.
A Project Committee, chaired by Mr Ray Harper who had played a significant role in the development of the Stadium Southland building which had been opened in 2000, included Cycling Southland administrators, Stadium Southland Management and other prominent identities, met regularly for a three year period to ensure the appropriate plans were in place.
In early December 2005, 150 tonnes of track timber and other necessary equipment was shipped out of Hamburg, Germany en route to Port Chalmers, New Zealand, where it duly arrived on 29th January 2006. The six containers were then transported by road to Invercargill and onto the building site at Surrey Park, which now had the walls and roof completed to a sufficient stage to ensure that the building was weather proof. A section of the south wall of the Stadium extension building was left open to allow access for the containers of equipment and once the equipment had arrived, the building was then secured.
Ten German specialist track builders, including the Track Designer, Ralph Schuermann were present when the equipment arrived and work on assembling the 300 track support trusses began immediately. Seventeen local carpenters had been co-opted to assist with the track build and progress on the project was rapid. Once the supporting trusses were in place, the 55km of surface timber was hand nailed into position, commencing on the inner edge and working concentrically up the track. Some 360,000 nails were used in the project with the Velodrome only taking five weeks to complete.
The extensions features the 250 metre international Velodrome and four court space and also includes an administration block which houses many of Southland's regional sporting organisations, storage, toilets, showers and changing rooms.
The entire project took only 57 weeks to complete and was officially opened on May 26th 2006 by then Prime Minister, Helen Clark.
.
UCI World Juniors Track Championships
2011:
January: Cycling Southland's New Year Cycling Carnival
January: BikeNZ Elite Squad Training (Pre-Beijing World Cup)
February: RaboDirect Elite National Track Cycling Championships
March: RaboDirect Age Group National Track Cycling Championships
March: Bike NZ Elite Squad Training (Pre-World Champs)
March-July: Temporary home for the Southern Steel
netball team and Southland Sharks
basketball franchises.
June: Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit
November: PowerNet Tour of Southland (Stage starts)
November: Oceania Track Cycling Championships
2010:
January: Cycling Southland's New Year Cycling Carnival
February: RaboPlus Elite National Track Cycling Championships
March: RaboPlus Age Group National Track Cycling Championships
June: Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit
October: OctoberFest Trans Tasman Track Cycling Challenge
November: PowerNet Tour of Southland (2 x Stage Starts)
December: ILT International Festival of Speed
2009:
New Zealand National Championships
2008:
Oceania Continent Cup
Tour of Southland Time Trials
World Championships (Qualifying)
2007:
Under 21 World Championships
Oceania Continent Cup
New Zealand National Championships
Olympic Games Team New Zealand Qualifying
Tour of Southland Time Trials
2006:
Tour of Southland Time Trials
New Zealand National Championships
Commonwealth Games Qualifying champs
New Zealand Under 19 Champs
Stadium Southland
Stadium Southland is an international sports complex in Invercargill, New Zealand. The stadium was completed in May 2000. The main SBS Sports Arena in the stadium has a capacity of 4,500, with temporary seating...
, built on the western side of the stadium proper.
The venue will also act as a home for the Southern Steel
Southern Steel
The Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill that compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The franchise was formed as an amalgamation of two teams from the National Bank Cup, the Dunedin-based Otago Rebels and the Invercargill-based Southern Sting...
netball side and Southland Sharks
Southland Sharks
The Southland Sharks are a professional basketball team based in the Southland region in the New Zealand National Basketball League.The team plays their home games at Invercargill's Stadium Southland where 3,000 of the 4,500 seats are made available for regular season games.-Establishment:The...
basketball team for 2011, after the collapse of Stadium Southland
Stadium Southland
Stadium Southland is an international sports complex in Invercargill, New Zealand. The stadium was completed in May 2000. The main SBS Sports Arena in the stadium has a capacity of 4,500, with temporary seating...
in September 2010, following a freak Southland snow storm.
History
The 2000 New Zealand Track Championships were held at Kew Bowl and as had happened on previous occasions, weather conditions had a major influence on the meeting. A prominent New Zealand cycling personality made comment on national media questioning why Cycling New Zealand continued to award New Zealand Championship events to Kew Bowl, where weather was often an issue and the bumpy nature of the track was not suited to top competition.That statement was a catalyst for Cycling Southland to further their plans of establishing New Zealand's first indoor cycling facility.
Many meetings were to follow and feasibility studies that were undertaken identified that the priority site for the new facility was adjoined to Stadium Southland, as part of the four court extension proposed for the existing facility.
A community fundraising venture was initiated by Harcourts Real Estate, a long time supporter of cycling in the south, who were keen to ensure that the Velodrome became an integral part of the Stadium Southland extensions.
Calder Stewart Industries was appointed as the project design and build company and a German Architectural Company, Schuermann Architects were appointed as the Velodrome designer. Negotiations commenced regarding the design and project costs and in August 2005, the groundwork commenced to signal the start of the $8 million project.
A Project Committee, chaired by Mr Ray Harper who had played a significant role in the development of the Stadium Southland building which had been opened in 2000, included Cycling Southland administrators, Stadium Southland Management and other prominent identities, met regularly for a three year period to ensure the appropriate plans were in place.
In early December 2005, 150 tonnes of track timber and other necessary equipment was shipped out of Hamburg, Germany en route to Port Chalmers, New Zealand, where it duly arrived on 29th January 2006. The six containers were then transported by road to Invercargill and onto the building site at Surrey Park, which now had the walls and roof completed to a sufficient stage to ensure that the building was weather proof. A section of the south wall of the Stadium extension building was left open to allow access for the containers of equipment and once the equipment had arrived, the building was then secured.
Ten German specialist track builders, including the Track Designer, Ralph Schuermann were present when the equipment arrived and work on assembling the 300 track support trusses began immediately. Seventeen local carpenters had been co-opted to assist with the track build and progress on the project was rapid. Once the supporting trusses were in place, the 55km of surface timber was hand nailed into position, commencing on the inner edge and working concentrically up the track. Some 360,000 nails were used in the project with the Velodrome only taking five weeks to complete.
The extensions features the 250 metre international Velodrome and four court space and also includes an administration block which houses many of Southland's regional sporting organisations, storage, toilets, showers and changing rooms.
The entire project took only 57 weeks to complete and was officially opened on May 26th 2006 by then Prime Minister, Helen Clark.
2012 UCI World Juniors Track Championships
In 2012 the ILT Velodrome will host the Juniors World Track Cycling Championships. In June 2009, the UCI awarded the 2012 Championships to Invercargill following a joint bid by BikeNZ and Cycling Southland. It is the second time New Zealand has hosted the event which was last held outdoors at Wanganui in 1983, while BikeNZ also staged the 2006 Mountain Bike World Championships in Rotorua and the UCI Mountain Bike Trials World Cup in 2009.Olympic Games Training
The ILT velodrome has been home to the New Zealand Cycling Team since it's oppening in 2008. New Zealand stars such as Alison Shanks and locals Tom Scully and Eddie Dawkins train at the complex when in New Zealand. The velodrome has also been the centre for the National Championships for the past few years, and was used in build up for the 2008 Olympic Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth Games till date...
.
Previous and Future Events
2012:UCI World Juniors Track Championships
2011:
January: Cycling Southland's New Year Cycling Carnival
January: BikeNZ Elite Squad Training (Pre-Beijing World Cup)
February: RaboDirect Elite National Track Cycling Championships
March: RaboDirect Age Group National Track Cycling Championships
March: Bike NZ Elite Squad Training (Pre-World Champs)
March-July: Temporary home for the Southern Steel
Southern Steel
The Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill that compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The franchise was formed as an amalgamation of two teams from the National Bank Cup, the Dunedin-based Otago Rebels and the Invercargill-based Southern Sting...
netball team and Southland Sharks
Southland Sharks
The Southland Sharks are a professional basketball team based in the Southland region in the New Zealand National Basketball League.The team plays their home games at Invercargill's Stadium Southland where 3,000 of the 4,500 seats are made available for regular season games.-Establishment:The...
basketball franchises.
June: Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit
November: PowerNet Tour of Southland (Stage starts)
November: Oceania Track Cycling Championships
2010:
January: Cycling Southland's New Year Cycling Carnival
February: RaboPlus Elite National Track Cycling Championships
March: RaboPlus Age Group National Track Cycling Championships
June: Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit
October: OctoberFest Trans Tasman Track Cycling Challenge
November: PowerNet Tour of Southland (2 x Stage Starts)
December: ILT International Festival of Speed
2009:
New Zealand National Championships
2008:
Oceania Continent Cup
Tour of Southland Time Trials
World Championships (Qualifying)
2007:
Under 21 World Championships
Oceania Continent Cup
New Zealand National Championships
Olympic Games Team New Zealand Qualifying
Tour of Southland Time Trials
2006:
Tour of Southland Time Trials
New Zealand National Championships
Commonwealth Games Qualifying champs
New Zealand Under 19 Champs
