Will the cycling track from Alkmaar disappear, or not? The municipality hopes to answer that question this year after a new study into the wishes of cycling in the region. The reason is the plans for an outdoor cycling park in Geestmerambacht. As a result, there will be fewer users for the covered track in the Sports Palace. While the track urgently needs to be renovated – for millions.
The Sports Palace on the Alkmaar ring road has been in disrepair for years deplorable state. The building with a wooden cycling track of 250 meters, only one of two with that length in the Netherlands, leaks from top to bottom.
The municipality decided in 2021 6.7 million euros to renovate the ‘palace’. Those plans have not yet been implemented and a condition for investing those millions in the 1964 complex is ‘that cycling fully commits to the track’.
Geestmerambacht cycling park
That has changed. A number of cycling clubs prefer one cycling, BMX and inline skating sports park in Geestmerambacht, instead of an indoor cycling track. And the plans for this Outdoor Bike Experience are becoming more and more serious, which is why the municipal council wants to reconsider the renovation of the Sportpaleis by investigating the need for a cycling track.
“There is a great need for a cycling track,” says Herman Schenk, head coach Regional Training Center (RTC) of the cycling sports association KNWU. He is also one of the initiators of one petition to maintain the job, which now has almost 1,900 signatories. “That says something about how track cycling lives here.”
And as far as he is concerned, Alkmaar without a velodrome is unthinkable and an eternal shame. “If you demolish it, there will be nothing in return. It’s gone. Then the entire talent training collapses, and there will be less opportunity for Paralympic athletes and also for recreational sports.”
“We train several successful riders here, such as Yiran van ‘t Oosten, Joeri Schaper and Yoeri Havik, to name a few. They all train here and win major prizes all the time. This track is a breeding ground for new Büchlis and Lavreysens.”
But according to Schenk, the athletes of the Cycling Academy of the adjacent Willem Blaeu school community will also have to seek refuge elsewhere. “And also the hundreds of high school students from Alkmaar who take gym lessons here and are thus introduced to track cycling.”
Although renovating the Sportpaleis is no longer certain, he still looks at the needs study with confidence. “We have no immediate concerns about this. The KNWU is actually making future plans to boost the training of track cyclists. We will continue to do so.”
Lippens and Ten Dam
“We have started a committee that wants to bring more track races and championships to Alkmaar. This also includes Robert Lippens and Laurens ten Dam. Not the least in the cycling world. The committee is therefore also talking to the municipality about offering this training place for future champions.”
As far as Schenk is concerned, the Sports Palace must be renovated in any case, with or without a velodrome. “We hope so. Otherwise you will be left with a sports hall and we already have enough of that in Alkmaar. The accommodation may not be the best, but this cycling track has a very good reputation internationally: it is one of the fastest.”
For the needs assessment the municipality will enter into discussions with operator Alkmaar Sport, various sports associations, (future) users and local residents. The study should be completed by the middle of this year so that a decision can be made by the end of 2024.