Richmond Olympic Oval

Sitting here watching the Sochi Winter Olympics brings up fond memories of the time I went to skate at the Richmond Olympic Oval – the host venue for the long track speed skating event for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.  It was early February 2009, and I was in Vancouver for a week-long Sales event for work.  I decided to spend a few extra days with one of my childhood friends.  As per his girlfriend's suggestion, we headed off to the tiny village of Richmond to check out the Olympic Oval as it just opened only a couple months earlier – the last of the Vancouver Olympic venues to be completed.

Richmond Olympic Oval

The Oval is located off the Fraser River just south of downtown Vancouver, but minutes away from the Vancouver International Airport at 6111 River Road.  There are three main ways to get to the Richmond Oval from downtown Vancouver:

• Bus – take the C94 bus from the Canada Line Brighouse Station
• Driving
• Taxi

The Oval is in a remote area, so my suggestion would be drive down if you can if you are not staying in downtown nor have easy access to the C94 bus line.  My friends live in Surrey, so we drove west along Highway 91 for about 30 minutes.  There is plenty of parking should you have means to a vehicle.

Public skating at the Richmond Olympic Oval

The Oval is open 7 days a week roughly between 6am – 11pm PST.  We arrived roughly around 9pm to give us just enough time to skate around for a while.  Admission was free to the public if you had your own skates.  However, since I was from out-of-town, I had to rent skates for about $7 Canadian.  It’s a bit pricey, but worth the investment for a special moment like this.

Public skating at the Richmond Olympic Oval

If you have never skate a lap around an Olympic-sized speed skating track before, then let me tell you that it is extremely tiring!  One lap around the track is about 400 meters, so if you are in not in peak physical condition, then you definitely will be winded.  This was my first time skating in over 5 years.  So while the enormity of the rink put me in awe, that feeling quickly dissipated once I began to lose stamina trying to complete the track.

The Richmond Olympic Oval is quite massive!

When I was there, skating was the only activity you really could do at the time.  An hour at the Oval was more than enough time spent there, so we left just before closing.  My experience at the Oval gave me a new-found appreciation for the sport of speed skating.  It is not easy by any means!

Goodnight, Richmond Olympic Oval!

Following the conclusion of the Olympics and Paralympics, the Richmond Oval was refurbished to become a multi-purpose sports and recreational facility.  Now you can participate in various activities, such as ice hockey, soccer or rock climbing just to name a few.  For more information about the Richmond Olympic Oval, please check out their official website.