City of Yellowknife sets aside cash to support Operation Bike Park

The City of Yellowknife has budgeted up to $25,000 to support Operation Bike Park a project headed by the Yellowknife Mountain Bike Club. Geoff Foster, the club's president, has wanted to bring a bike park to Yellowknife for three years.

"The idea's always been there," Foster said. "The users are out there, the need for the facility is out there."

Bike tracks have been popping up all over the North. Whitehorse completed a bike park in 2010, and there's another in Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

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The city is going to match the money raised by the club to support the construction of the park. Foster said the biggest cost is getting professional help to design and build the course, because it needs to be made safely.

"[We're] building a public facility and we want to make sure it's done right, and unfortunately that costs money."

Foster is planning on building the park at Bristol Pit. "It's a really amazing opportunity to rehabilitate the area," said Foster. "You have an area that's basically sat unused if it wasn't for the snowboard facility."

The plan is to build the park in phases so it doesn'tbecomes a "half completed, unused facility." Building in stages allows riders to use completed phases while others are under construction.

The first instalment Foster wants is a pump track a circuit with banked turns that can be ridden without pedalling.

But the project needs more money before construction can start. According to Foster, costs are expected to be between $225,000 and $500,000.

He hopes to mitigate costs through in-kind donations of labour and building materials. For now he is approaching businesses for donations, and he is applying for grants.

The club conducted a survey in the spring to see how many residents wanted a bike park in Yellowknife. They had over 400 respondents, and the vast majority were in favour of bringing a bike park to the city.