Enhanced sporting opportunities at Bear Creek Park and the South Surrey Athletic Park will be a considerable, lasting legacy of the 2012 BC Summer Games.
Two new beach volleyball courts are currently being installed at the latter venue in the city's south corridor. Meanwhile, the Bear Creek Park track will be receiving an extensive, $400,000 facelift.
"We find Bear Creek Park is one of Surrey's most-used facilities – popular with casual walkers," says Dan Nielsen, special projects manager at Surrey Parks, Recreation and Culture.
The Games offers the perfect opportunity for Surrey residents to catch 20 electrifying sporting events at 15 first-class venues.
"We call it the South Surrey hub," says Tom Hastie, director of sport, 2012 BC Summer Games, referring to six events within a five-to-10 minute walk: rugby, volleyball, beach volleyball, baseball, triathlon and diving.
Meanwhile the outdoor water sports – wake boarding, canoeing, kayaking and rowing – are actually taking place outside of the host city, at venues in Abbotsford, Langley and Delta.
Hastie notes the rising Fraser River waters could threaten the rowing event at the Langley Rowing and Paddling Centre situated in a side channel of the mighty river.
"I'm a bit concerned about the rise of water on the Fraser River that might be coming down from all this rain and snowmelt," says Tom Hastie, director of sport, 2012 BC Summer Games.
Mother Nature's unpredictably aside, everything else is on track venue-wise for this year's BC Summer Games, Hastie says.