The City of Kamloops will begin work to replace the track at Hillside Stadium in June of next year.

While this work was supposed to take place last year, the City’s Events Supervisor, Sean Smith, says it was put off due to COVID-19 and other major events at Hillside Stadium last summer.

“And by putting it off until 2023, it has given us some time to work with the user groups like Rivers FC, the Kamloops Broncos, TRU WolfPack, and the Kamloops Track and Field Club, so that they can plan around not having access to the field as they normally would expect,” he said.

“Of course the best time to do these jobs is when everybody wants to be on them.”

This new track addition comes after new turf was installed at Hillside Stadium in the summer of 2020.

“A project of this magnitude takes some time to plan and 2023 was just looking like the best year to get it started,” Smith said. “With the BC Lions coming in the spring and the track and field club meets happening through April and May, the best window was to start in June as soon as the track club is done with their track event.”

“We’re looking at about a three month window to do the work.”

When complete, Hillside Stadium will have a higher-grade Mondotrack surface, which Smith says is far more superior to the current polyurethane track that has been in place since 2006.

“We know that a Mondotrack is what people want to compete on and train on,” he added. “As part of our Tournament Capital program, it is our objective to provide the best facilities that we absolutely can in Kamloops. That is what we are hoping to do with the new Mondotrack at Hillside Stadium.”

Smith says the indoor polyurethane track at the Tournament Capital Centre was replaced with Mondotrack in 2017. By replacing the outdoor track, he notes it will make Kamloops the only community with “exceptional indoor and outdoor facilities” in one location.

“Installing Mondotrack provides an opportunity to take the Tournament Capital hosting program to the next level,” Smith wrote in a Feb. 2021 report to council.

“The City currently has some of the best sport venues in Canada, and adding an outdoor Mondotrack to the inventory would set Kamloops apart from other sport-hosting communities in Western Canada.”

The project will cost an estimated $2.18 million with the majority ($1.75 million) going towards removal of the old and installation of the new track surface. Another $50,000 is going towards engineering and project administration, $80,000 towards track maintenance equipment, and $300,000 meant as a contingency fund.

City staff have applied for a $900,000 grant from Athletics Canada which would offset some of the costs.