Forest City Velodrome remains in the dark following copper wire theft

Forest City Velodrome remains in the dark almost a week after its copper wiring was stolen, leaving the cycling non-profit without power.

Police were called to the cycling centre on Roxburgh Drive for a reported theft on Saturday.

The investigation is ongoing and police said that they are unable to provide any additional information at this time.

In a Facebook post, velodrome officials said that early Saturday, “a highly trained thief” carefully cut the copper wiring from a hydro pole at the back of the building. Volunteers noticed that the facility was out of power when they opened that morning for an upcoming session.

“As a non-profit run by volunteers, it is disheartening to be knocked down financially and as a family group.”

Craig Linton, president of Forest City Velodrome, said that the blackout was initially expected to be resolved by Wednesday. But, due to a problem with delivered materials, the track remains in the dark.

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“The Forrest City Velodrome is the training facility for people from not only London, but St. Thomas, Strathroy, and Kitchener-Waterloo area, so it’s quite a regional facility in that regard,” he said. “With track provincial championships and national championships coming up, fortunately, those events are far enough out that I don’t think this has really a big impact on those activities and those training plans. But it’s all still something to be considered.”

He said that all youth programming had to be cancelled due to the theft, and adult members haven’t been able to ride since last Thursday.

From his understanding, Linton said that estimated damage costs could be about $15,000.

“This was a crime that was perpetrated for maybe as much as $1,000 worth of copper cabling,” he said. “One thousand dollars is a lot of money to someone, but it’s nothing compared to number one the cost that was going to be buried by our non-profit organization, but also the broader community cost.”

A GoFundMe was launched following the theft. Linton said that at last count, the velodrome surpassed its fundraising goal of $10,000.

Additionally, a raffle will be held in February to help the facility recover some repair costs.

More information can be found on the velodrome’s website.