Maindy Centre

Last updated

Maindy Pool (top left) and cycle track Maindy Pool & Cycle Track.jpg
Maindy Pool (top left) and cycle track

Maindy Centre (Welsh : Canolfan Maendy, formerly known as Maindy Stadium, now also known as Maindy Pool and Cycle Track) is a velodrome and indoor swimming pool facility in the Maindy area of Cardiff, Wales. The velodrome was used in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the swimming pool was opened in 1993. [1]

Contents

Maindy Stadium opened in 1951. The stadium has previously had an athletics running track, which was transferred from Cardiff Arms Park after the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. It became Cardiff's main athletics stadium until the Cardiff Athletics Stadium was opened in 1989. [2] The stadium has also been used for boxing and Welsh baseball. [2]

History

Maindy Stadium, Cardiff.jpg
The grandstand at Maindy Stadium provided cover for 5,000 spectators. [2] Photo taken c.1960
Maindy Centre, Cardiff 01.jpg
The Maindy Centre, with the grandstand, judge's box, concrete terracing and the running track removed. Photo taken 2008.

The site on which the Maindy Centre stands was gifted by Lord Bute to the people of Cardiff. [2] In the 1920s, it was a clay pit that had been filled with water and household refuse and used for swimming, with a number of adults and children drowned in it. [3] [2] The site was filled in and by May 1951 the new Maindy Stadium was opened. [2] [4] The stadium was designed so that events could be used for the requirements of the Amateur Athletics Association and the National Cyclists' Union. [4]

Boxing matches also took place at Maindy Stadium between May 1935 and July 1963. [5]

Facilities

The 460 metres (1,509.2 ft) outdoor floodlit cycling velodrome was well known for its slight unevenness, caused by subsidence, as the stadium was built on the clay pit. There was a six-lane cinder running track inside the cycle track at one point, but this has since been removed and replaced by a mini football pitches and a road section for traffic safety courses (in the middle of the velodrome. [1] There was also extensive seating and covered area with a judges box in the 1960s, on an area which is now a grass bank behind the back straight of the cycle track. [6] At that time, the finish line on the cycle track was located at the opposite side of the cycle track to its current location.

Maindy Swimming Pool Maindy Swimming Pool.jpg
Maindy Swimming Pool

Maindy remains to be used extensively for training and racing and hosts many events such as the Cardiff International Grand Prix. [7] It is used in particular for teaching youngsters to ride. At 460 metres in length and 18 degree bankings, [8] the track is not as steep as the majority of velodromes, and therefore perfect for those new to the sport. The concrete surface is also used for floodlit training sessions during the winter, where road bicycles are used as opposed to track bicycles.

The cycle track has recently been resurfaced, seeing an end to the characteristic red asphalt surface which covered it for several years, [8] funded by the Eddie Smart memorial fund.

The Maindy Flyers Youth Cycling Club is also based at the stadium, and boasts past members such as Geraint Thomas. Riders from the club have gone on to win four of the eight Olympic gold medals won by Welsh sportspeople between 1976 and 2016. [9] The British National Derny Championships were held at the stadium in 2007, local riders and past members of Maindy Flyers, Alex Greenfield and Katie Curtis came second and third respecitvley. Another past members of Maindy Flyers, Matthew Rowe, finished third in the men's championships. Other notable ex-members include Elinor Barker, Luke Rowe and Owain Doull. [10]

The facility also has a 6-lane 25 metres (82.0 ft) length swimming pool, which was opened in 1993, and a 5-a-side pitch, [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Velodrome</span>

Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise to track cycling dominance at World and Olympic level. The velodrome was also home to UCI ProTeam Ineos Grenadiers, formerly known as Team Sky between 2010 and 2019, a period when the team won 6 Tour de France, 2 Vuelta a Espana and 1 Giro d'Italia with Great Britain riders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathays</span> District and community in Cardiff, Wales

Cathays is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is densely populated and contains many Victorian terraced houses. The area falls into the Cathays ward. It is the third most populous community in Cardiff, having a population of 18,002 in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maindy</span> District of Cardiff, Wales

Maindy is a district of the city of Cardiff, Wales. Its boundaries are not formally recognised by Cardiff Council, and the district falls within the Cathays ward and Gabalfa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games</span> Multi-sport event in Cardiff, Wales

The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games was held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herne Hill Velodrome</span>

The Herne Hill Velodrome is a velodrome in Herne Hill, in south London. It is one of the oldest cycling tracks in the world, having been built in 1891. It hosted the track cycling events in the 1948 Summer Olympics and was briefly the home of Crystal Palace Football Club during World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport International Sports Village</span> Sport complex in Newport, Wales

Newport International Sports Village is a multi-sport complex located at Lliswerry in the South East of the city of Newport, South Wales. It is known locally as Spytty Park, the name coming from the original Spytty Fields on which it is built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff International Sports Village</span> Sporting complex in Cardiff, Wales

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Prankerd</span> Welsh cyclist

Catherine Rachel "Katie" Prankerd is a Welsh former professional road and track cyclist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport Wales</span> National sports organisation of Wales

Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales. Working alongside partners such as governing bodies of sport and local authorities, they aim to encourage sporting ambitions in the young and promote championship standards nationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sport in Cardiff</span> Overview of sport in the capital city of Wales

Sport in Cardiff is dictated by, amongst other things, its position as the capital city of Wales, meaning that national home sporting fixtures are nearly always played in the city. All of Wales' multi-sports agencies and many of the country's sports governing bodies have their headquarters in Cardiff and the city's many top-quality venues have attracted world-famous sport events, sometimes unrelated to Cardiff or to Wales.

Edward Charles Smart was a Welsh cyclist and coach from Cardiff, Wales. He represented Wales at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, in the scratch race, kilo, sprint, pursuit and road race.

Matthew Rowe is a Welsh racing cyclist.

Ruby Miller is a Welsh racing cyclist from Llantwit Major.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Rowe</span> Welsh racing cyclist

Luke Rowe is a Welsh racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.

Most leisure centres in Cardiff, capital of Wales, are owned by Cardiff Council. Since 2016, the running of eight formerly Council-run leisure centres has been outsourced to Greenwich Leisure Limited, operating under their 'Better' branding. Channel View Leisure Centre continues to be managed by Cardiff Council, whilst the Cardiff International Pool in Cardiff Bay is run separately by another private company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountbatten Centre</span> Leisure centre in Portsmouth

The Mountbatten Centre is a leisure centre in Portsmouth, England, which opened in 1979, and was extended with a pool under a waveform roof in 2009. The "Mountbatten Centre" is located in Hilsea, an area in Portsmouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wales Empire Pool</span> Former swimming pool in Cardiff, Wales

The Wales Empire Pool, known locally as the Empire Pool, was an international standard swimming pool building, located in Cardiff, Wales from 1958 until it was demolished in 1998. It was a centrepiece for the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wales at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games</span> Sporting event delegation

Wales competed at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 July to 26 July 1958.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Maindy Centre". Cardiff Council. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Maindy Stadium velodrome set to be 'needlessly' bulldozed". The National. 17 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "40 fascinating pictures that showcase Cardiff's legendary sporting heritage". Walesonline. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Maindy Stadium". Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales . Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  5. ↑ "Maindy Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom". BoxRec. 2 April 2011.
  6. ↑ "Photo of Cardiff, Maindy Stadium c1960". Francis Frith.
  7. ↑ "2008 Track Major Events Calendar". British Cycling. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008.
  8. 1 2 "Bicycle Tracks & Velodromes". Bike Cult. 25 July 2005.
  9. ↑ Silk, Huw (15 August 2016). "This Cardiff cycling club is to thank for half of Wales' Olympic golds in the last four decades". WalesOnline . Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "From Go-Ride to Glasgow for Team Wales Riders". British Cycling . Retrieved 29 September 2016.

51°29′48.50″N3°11′24.00″W / 51.4968056°N 3.1900000°W / 51.4968056; -3.1900000

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.