Bad timing for velodrome

Budget blowouts on the V8 event have made the Waikato council wary of investing in a $28.5 million velodrome. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A push for the Waikato to support a $28.5m velodrome near Cambridge may have been overshadowed by the V8 Supercars blowout.

Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival director Sarah Nathan, at a debate last night called "Sport of Spectacle", hosted by the Waikato University, agreed that the V8 event blowout from a projected $13 million to about $30 million may have made councils and the community more critical about investing in another capital project.

However the city council's former marketing and communications manager, who worked at the council when the V8 event was approved, acknowledged there were "so many unknowns" in the Australian racing event compared with the proposed National Home of Cycling at St Peter's School in Cambridge.

Mrs Nathan also put the growing success of Hamilton events such as Balloons over Waikato and the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival down to them being locally owned, and suggested that was why the motor-racing event had not taken off.

"I don't think Hamilton is any more an events city than any other city in New Zealand. What we do right is the events we choose are unique to our people.

"The thing that really struck me is perhaps it doesn't really work because it's not our event and we don't really own it. It's a pre-packaged event that could be taken away."

While the city's art-based events grew significantly last year, attendance at the V8 event dropped during the same year, she said.

Former Olympic medallist Rob Waddell opened the debate urging support for the velodrome, saying there were strong economic benefits for the region with BikeNZ committing to move its headquarters and bring 130 people to live in the area.

Mr Waddell admitted the trust leading the region's bid couldn't have chosen a worse time to try to rally support and funding for the cycling centre, but said the success of the hub was reliant on the council's support.

He said bad press over the V8s and other capital projects had not helped the trust's case, and tried to dispel perceptions the facility would only be for elite cyclists. Figures provided by the trust showed 80 per cent of its use would be for the community.

Waikato Chamber of Commerce chief executive Wayne Walford said he did not think negative publicity over the V8s was to blame for reluctance from the community to buy into the velodrome, instead putting it down to a lack of public knowledge of the proposal.