The National Sports Campus has plenty of scope for future development of something along the lines of a velodrome
Dundalk’s hopes of having the first international standard indoor velodrome look to have taken another hit as plans now look in place to have it located at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown.
Last month plans were unveiled by Dundalk IT and Cuchulainn Cycling Club for a state-of-the-art track at the former JJB Sports Complex at Dundalk Retail Park.
However, those proposals have been put on ice due to students voting against it.
While those behind it insist it is not dead in the water, Cycling Ireland and Badminton Ireland have presented the findings of a feasibility study on establishing a velodrome at Abbotstown, with the National Sports Campus Development Authority (NSCDA) presenting them to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
The study concluded that once it becomes operational the business model being proposed for the velodrome would make it self-financing.
So enthused have all parties been with the plans that last week Minister Leo Varadkar gave the NSCDA the go ahead to draw up plans for a velodrome.
It is understood it will be built to international specifications, with a 250-metre track wrapped around a badminton facility containing 16 courts. The cost of the project is estimated at around €8m and it is possible that work could start on it as soon as later this year.
That would put Abbotstown firmly in the driving seat for the country’s first indoor velodrome.
