The shuttered sliding track at WinSport is another piece of Calgary’s Olympic legacy sitting empty and unused.
It used to inspire Alberta Luge executive director Jason Hegerfeldt. Now, the track raises more questions than answers.
“It’s sad overall, just seeing how the state of the track is now. It’s deteriorating,” Hegerfeldt said. “Seeing exactly that the history that once was here from the ’88 Olympics. Alberta Luge has been around for going on 40 years and just… how are we going to succeed going forward not having a track?”
Since the historic track shuttered in 2019, Alberta Luge said registration and volunteer numbers have plummeted by as much as 70 per cent.
It’s now relying on unconventional recruiting tools to bring in the next generation of sled athletes.
“We have a mobile luge ramp and we’ve taken it to all corners of the city,” Hegerfeldt added. “In winter, our biggest piece here is doing snow luge actually right beside the tube park. This past winter, we’ve engaged ski hills across the province and we’re going out there and just exposing Albertans to the sport of luge.”
The most dedicated luge athletes still train five days a week in the summer and travel to Whistler, B.C., home of Canada’s lone remaining sliding track, for training blocks and competition throughout the winter.
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Calgary’s track closed in anticipation of a $25 million facelift.
The provincial government committed $10 million and the federal government another $7 million to the project.
WinSport, which oversees Canada Olympic Park, needed to come up with the remaining $8 million.
Instead, WinSport slid $10 million earmarked for the track update to renovate the 36-year-old day lodge. Construction is slated to start in spring 2024.
“The day lodge is critical to WinSport’s year-round operations, and the future viability and sustainability of COP (Canada Olympic Park), affecting hundreds of thousands of annual users and guests, including athletes of all ages and abilities,” WinSport spokesperson Dale Oviatt said in a statement. “Although the sliding track project is still on WinSport’s long list of capital projects, it remains unfunded and our focus must remain on the day lodge project.”
Oviatt said Winsport continues to support the sliding community thorough the Ice House and other facilities.
“I would definitely love to sit down and have those discussions on how we could get to the right point of where the funds are available to get the (sliding) track up and running, and back to where we can have the next Olympians coming down here on a daily basis, as it was in 2019,” Hegerfeldt countered.
“It’s the same state for bobsleigh and skeleton, where if you don’t have a Calgary venue, you’re lacking athlete development and engagement. (Potential) Olympians are not having that potential experience of trying out a sport.”
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