The Saskachewan Summer Games spirit continues to keep rolling into Estevan by evidence of the latest donation to the cause made by the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division on Jan. 21.
The two Estevan representatives on the Holy Family board of trustees, Karen Melle and Bev Hickie, paid a visit to the Games headquarters to deliver the first of what will be five cheques totaling $25,000 for the construction of a new track on the Estevan Comprehensive School grounds. The track will be one of the focal points for the 2016 Games being hosted by the Energy City.
“The supporters keep stepping up,” said Kelly McConnell, co-chair of the Friends of the Games Committee. “We have not received any negative responses anywhere.”
“Our Holy Family students from Estevan attend ECS,” said Melle. “The Comp is their high school home and they will be using the track long after the Games are over.”
The two trustees said it was just a matter of figuring out what level of support the separate school division could provide and they based some of their computations on what had already been provided for the track construction by the South East Cornerstone Public School Division earlier.
“Once we arrived at a figure, the vote was unanimous,” said Hickie.
The Games co-chairman, Brian Smith was on hand to talk about the progress being made on the construction side of the new track project.
“Nothing much can be done over the winter. The last major work we got done before winter set in was the placement of asphalt and all that was done except for a bit on the east side, which will be needed for a walking path leading to the track. The rubberized track will be laid in the spring and the lines will go on then, too,” he said.
Once spring arrives, there will be time and materials set aside for landscaping with the addition of some topsoil to place on the newly settled construction site. Proper drainage will be re-established and grass seed will be applied in the area that is to be reclaimed.
A storage shed is also in the plans, said Smith.
“It will be about the size of a two-car garage and it will be used to store track and field equipment. A concrete pad will be poured to accommodate that addition and more will be poured at the trackside finish line where cameras and judges’ stands will be located.
“We will have all this done in 2015 and we hope to be able to pull off a mock event by fall just to test everything out,” said Smith. “Of course all, of this is weather permitting.”
The old track that had been left to waste for several years is now a part of history and the new $1.3 million replacement is more than halfway home. That price tag includes all the above noted accessories.
“Local companies have stepped up, as Kelly said. With cash donations as well as work-in-kind donations, we’ve picked up about $1 million of that need.
“The major issue last year, once we got going on the track was the geo-technical planning. We had higher groundwater levels than what we anticipated so we needed stronger drainage and more backfill just to beef everything up. The additions to the drainage system added about another 10 per cent to the cost. Labour and engineering needs were met, and we’ve learned how good drainage is vital for tracks like these so we naturally wanted to do it correctly. The additional landscaping that will go in as we near the finish will slope to the drainage and the football facility will benefit from a new drainage ditch too,” Smith added.
McConnell said she was very pleased to see Holy Family getting involved in the project and the successful hosting of the Summer Games in Estevan. The school system has two elementary schools in Estevan with about 500 students. Holy Family also administers to separate schools in Weyburn, Radville and Wilcox.
“We see this facility as a very positive legacy of the 2016 Summer Games, which will last for generations to come. It will not only be a benefit to the students of our school division, but to the community as a whole,” said Hickie and Melle, noting the track will probably be used by power walkers in the spring and summer and other athletes during their training sessions and that could even include Holy Family’s elementary school athletes for special events.
