Uncertain future for former Sydney Olympic velodrome

The Dunc Gray Velodrome, built for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, is facing an uncertain future with the City of Canterbury Bankstown concerned over potential future operational and maintenance costs.

With the Council set to take ‘operational responsibility’ for the 250 metre, 3000 seat Velodrome, from current lease holder the Bankstown Sports Club, in 2019, it is concerned about ongoing operational costs, estimated at $400,000 a year, along with capital works of $1 million to keep the facility in good condition over the next four years.

Canterbury-Bankstown administrator, Richard Colley told the Sydney Morning Herald “unfortunately, track cycling is a very small sport that requires a very large investment in the venue that you use for it.

"There are a number of options … ranging from a 'do-nothing through' to a modification of it, through to the nth degree - which is demolition."

While demolition is a final option, the possibility of the Dunc Gray Velodrome going the way of the one built for the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games remains.

There the boards were pulled up in 1989 and the venue repurposed as a Biodome, lasting just 13 years as a Velodrome. The lost value to Canadian track cycling was only replaced in 2015 when a new elite facility was built in Milton, Ontario (less than an hour from Toronto) in time for the Pan-American Games.

This was always possible as one of the significant fixed pieces of infrastructure built outside the Olympic precinct and not supported by the NSW Government, unlike the Archery Centre, Sydney International Regatta, Centre and the Sydney International Equestrian Centre.

Council requested financial support from the NSW Government but none was offered. Interestingly, the recently forced council amalgamations mean the greater Canterbury-Bankstown Council now supports two velodromes, including the outdoor facility in Tempe, which is unsuitable for elite track cycling or talent development.

As reported by SBS, standing outside of Sydney Olympic Park at Bass Hill has left the Velodrome as an effective white elephant, without a fuller context and isolated from its true history. If it had been placed in the Olympic precinct it would benefit from NSW Government support and would have been more central to the rest of the city with well-supported transport links.

Close watchers of the events leading up to Sydney 2000 always saw this as a possibility with concerns expressed at the time there were concerns expressed over its location.

Should the venue be closed or demolished it would have a considerable impact for elite track cycling in NSW as it is key to the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) track program.