Venue Preview: Richmond Olympic Oval

Name: Richmond Olympic Oval
Sports: Long-Track Speed-Skating
Sessions: SS012 (Team Pursuit Finals)
Days: Day 16
Location: 6111 River Road, Richmond, British Columbia
Capacity: 8,000
Opened: 2008
Costs: $178 million CAD

Of all the venues that we're going to see, the Richmond Olympic Oval is the one I'm looking forward to most on a pure 'I just want to see the Facility' level. During the Phase II ticketing sale, Pam and I were lucky enough to score the Team Pursuit Finals on Day 16. We have 'A Level' tickets for that event, but as you can see from the seating chart below, all that really means is that we won't be tucked way up into one of the corners.



The Oval itself is situated in Richmond on the Fraser River (WooHoo!), about a kilometre off the Canada Line from Lansdowne Station. Games-Time seating capacity will be about 8,000 people.

The primary architectural feature is of course the 'Wood Wave' roof, built from reclaimed BC wood. I'm sure that its an increadibly impressive sight when you keep in mind the shear size of the facility. I sometimes think of a Long-Track Speed-Skating facility as being fairly analogus to a hockey arena, when in fact...its like putting a roof over an outdoor 400m running track.

From where we're staying in Downtown Vancouver, I think its about a 20-30 minute ride along the new LRT Line, plus about 10 minutes in walking time. On the day that we're going to be there, we actually will have to leave pretty quickly after the event. The Team Pursuit Finals run 12:30 to 2:25 PM, with the Men's Gold Medal Curling Game following at 3:00. Hopefully those 35 minutes will be enough time to get over to the Vancouver Olympic Centre!!

Since we won't have much of a chance to linger at the facility, I'm hoping to get out there really early on Day 16 so that we have a good chance to tour the facility before event time. Judging from the pictures below, I'm gonna want as much time there as possible! Its too bad that we won't get a chance to see the facility at night, as it looks amazing lit-up.