GGS visits the Vancouver 2010 Olympic speed skating oval

Last weekend we had the chance to go skating at the Richmond Oval, which will be home to all of the speed skating events during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February 2010.  So of course Steve and I bundled up the kids, grabbed mitts, helmets, skates and of course most importantly…my camera!

Photo Gallery:

Check out the full gallery of photos at the bottom of this post.

Did you know:

The Richmond Oval, home to Winter Olympic speedskating events

The oval is located in Richmond, which is the city directly south of Vancouver and just a hop across the Fraser River.  While we were there, I toured the venue and learned all sorts of cool facts about it and the Olympics…

• The venue is home to the 400-metre speed skating track. It will seat 8,000 fans and will be the site for 12 medal events, with 36 medals awarded.
• The Oval has four hardwood sport courts in the centre of the oval and an indoor rowing tank, a rowing machine and spin cycling studio and two group fitness studios!
• Post-Games, the Oval will become an international centre for high-performance athletes and a multi-use facility for the local community.

Work out while you watch!

Watch while you work out:

My favorite part of the oval? Why the fitness centre, which is located high on a mezzanine and overlooks the entire venue.  While working out, you have a bird’s eye view of the speed skating oval, the basketball courts and badminton courts, to name just a little of the eye candy you can feast on while you sweat yourself silly. Pretty inspirational to work out at an Olympic venue!

GGS girlfriend, Andrea G, works just down the road and works out at the Richmond Oval on her lunch hour. She gave us the scoop that she was able to watch some of the qualifying events for speed skating – all for the price of her gym membership. Now that’s a gym membership perk you don’t usually receive!

Fun facts:

The Vancouver Olympic Mascots

• 4 – Number of jetliners that could park wingtip to wingtip on the Oval’s main floor.
• 304,800 – Board metres of primary pine beetle salvaged lumber used to build the Oval roof (1,000,000 feet).
• The Oval will house the main anti-doping lab of the 2010 Winter Games. (So don’t be a dope, eh!)

Richmond oval rumor:

Rumour has it that when the oval was being built an owl flew in and made its nest there during construction. Being a smaller bird of prey the construction workers were out of its league and unfortunately it wasn’t able to find any smaller meals. Poor thing!

We hear the owl’s ghost still swoops down around the oval late at night, ready to eat unsuspecting small creatures…so keep your kids close and don’t sneak in after it closes!

GGS at Richmond Olympic Oval

So we went to the Richmond Olympic Oval to check out where the speed skating events will be held during Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics in February. Check it out!

19 Photos

More Vancouver 2010 Olympics info:

Find out more about the Vancouver Olympics here and the Richmond Oval here.

Interested in sponsoring GGS  during the Olympics? Click here.