£685,000 upgrade underway at Inverness Ice Centre
Could Winter Olympics 2018 champs owe success to Inverness?
Inverness Ice Centre could play a leading role in training athletes for the Winter Olympics in 2018.
The Bught Drive facility is getting £685,000 in new funding to upgrade the centre which is owned and run by a charity.
A five-figure sum in running costs is expected to be saved every year just by modernising the plant.
It's used by a number of Olympic, Paralympic, World and European Champions for training. The two largest funding contributors are sportscotland - the national agency for sport - and Highland Council's Capital Grand fund, contributing £345,125 and £171,870 respectively. It’s hoped the upgrades, which will make the centre brighter and more modern, will encourage more first time ice skaters through the front door of the centre in the future, which in turn will help the social enterprise facility increase its revenue, in order to ensure the sustainability of the centre in future years. Olympians World, European and Paralympic medalists, including Ewan MacDonald (pictured), use the facility alongside curling teams, figure and dance skating groups as well as public skaters, synchro skaters, ice hockey clubs and the Highland Wheelchair Curling Club on a regular basis. Ewan MacDonald, who was born in Inverness, is a three-time World Champion, playing second for Hammy McMillan in 1999 and playing third for David Murdoch in 2006 and 2009, representing Scotland. He has also represented Great Britain at three Winter Olympics, in salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010. Ewan, who regularly trains at the centre, told MFR News: "The Inverness Ice Centre is our only training facility in the Highland region and this funding comes at a brilliant time, when athletes are preparing to train in the run up to the winter Olympics in 2018. "The upgrades are going to make a huge difference to the quality of the ice and importantly allow for speedy change over to different disciplines allowing skaters and curlers more opportunities to compete and train." Work has already got underway on this project, and the Inverness Ice Centre, which has a total of ten employees, is now closed to members and the public until its opening date, which is predicated to be the first week in September. Tom Pendreigh, Chair of Inverness Ice Centre, added: "We have secured the funding through various different sources, including over £80,000 of own funds – and we are now delighted to move forward with this essential project which is central to the Inverness Ice Centre’s longevity. "This plant upgrade should result in 25-30 per cent annual saving on running costs." The Inverness Ice Centre changed ownership a number of times before its users bought it in 2002, and it became a charitable organisation as part of the process.