By Mandy Oakham
Geelong cyclists are wheely, wheely happy about a new $1.4 million facility which will provide a new home base for the region’s cycling activities.
Construction is about to start on a two-storey, cycling pavilion at the Geelong Criterium Circuit site in Barwon Heads Road, Belmont.
The Home for Cycling Regional Pavilion is being developed by the City of Greater Geelong and the Geelong Cycling Club, in partnership with the Victorian Government.
Geelong Cycling Club President John Burtt said that the new facility would bring Geelong cycling into the 21st century.
“We believe completion of the facility will signal a further surge in regional interest in cycling, both competitively and recreationally,” Mr Burtt said.
“We believe the provision of toilets, showers and new changing rooms within the pavilion will also signal a dramatic rise of female participation in the sport, competitively and recreationally.”
Mr Burtt said that the pavilion could become a perfect site to showcase the club’s extensive collection of memorabilia.
“The Geelong Cycling Club has a fascinating history going back well over 100 years and I think the exhibition of this collection will become a major attraction in itself,” he said.
“Further down the track, the club will be looking to develop a new velodrome – something the Geelong region sorely needs.”
Funding for the $1.4 million project is coming from the City of Greater Geelong ($934,000) and the Victorian Government ($466,000), with completion scheduled for January 2018.
The project will allow the Geelong Cycling Club to transfer its headquarters from the Geelong West oval, where the club has been since it was established in 1911, to the new Belmont facility.
City of Greater Geelong Director Community Life Linda Quinn said that the pavilion would provide much-needed amenities and administrative facilities for cycling events, club competition and training, as well as programmed activities.
