A synthetic athletics track in Magog in 2016?

The La Ruche Sports Center is only waiting for financial support from the federal government to repair its athletics track, which has been abandoned for several years.

Michel Grandmaison (Sports Centre) and Christian Vachon (Christian Vachon Foundation) hope that the new synthetic athletics track will be ready for next summer.

We are talking specifically about an amount of $160,000, or half of the total cost, that officials are hoping to obtain from the Community Infrastructure Program, set up as part of the 150th anniversary of Confederation.A first request to this effect was filed last June, but since then, no news. “With the elections, all requests have been delayed. We must meet Denis Paradis' team in January, hoping to get an answer quickly,” explains Michel Grandmaison, who sits on the board of directors of the Sports Center.

The other half of the funding will come from the Sports Center ($75,000), the Christian Vachon Foundation ($60,000) and the Commission scolaire des Sommets ($25,000). This money will make it possible to increase the current track from six to eight lanes, in addition to affixing a synthetic surface with a natural surface in the center. The addition of an asphalt curb along the 400-meter-long track is also in the pipeline, as is the upgrading of the lighting.

For Christian Vachon, who clung to running to get through difficult periods of his childhood, an athletics track is full of extraordinary potential for school perseverance. “Magog organizes the biggest cross-country in Quebec by having 1,200 children run. Each year, we see several who would like to continue, who are talented, but we have to tell them to go to Sherbrooke. For me, Magog must have such a set.”

In addition to benefiting the students of La Ruche and its athletics club, the two officials add that this track would be an added value for the region since it will be accessible to the entire population. This facelift will also make it possible to host major competitions, according to them, such as the Quebec Games and provincial school championships. “The Relay for Life or other events of the genre could also use it,” launches Christian Vachon as an idea, praising the many uses of a modernized track.

In the best scenario, they hope to be able to deliver their project in time for the start of next summer season.