The Squamish Legacy Sports Park was built as a community asset for locals to train for winter sports.
That did not stop someone from taking some of its assets though to make them their own.
Sea to Sky Nordics, who oversee the site, found that someone must have broken into the site, probably overnight on Monday, Aug. 29, and made off with a couple of important pieces of equipment for the ski jumping facility, a cornerstone feature of the 18-acre site at Raven Drive.
“It’s really hampered our ability to deliver community programs,” says Sea to Sky Nordic’s John Heilig.
Someone took a portion of the artificial surface for the ski jump as well as imitation tool to help jumpers practice.
The size of the turf was estimated at about four by four metres.
“It’s a $10,000 chunk of turf,” Heilig said. “It’s really disheartening to say the least.”
Also taken was the imitation tool, which allows young jumpers to slide down tracks and land on a matt to practise their takeoffs.
Heilig said neighbours noticed a couple of pickup trucks in the area at the time.
“I can’t confirm that these two pickups were necessarily the cause,” he said.
As well, it looked like someone might have hooked up a hose to water the track, perhaps to test the turf. The surface is designed to be watered in order to allow for better sliding during ski jumps.
The club is just coming off a successful round of summer programming at the site, which is designed to be a year-round facility. Heilig had 41 kids take part in the multi-sport summer programs at the site.
The park offers a range of activities, some of which focus on summer training for Nordic events like ski jumping and biathlon, and others like disc golf, hiking and mini-golf.
The site includes an eight-metre ski jump, which is ideal for young people new to ski jumping, and there are plans to add a larger jump next to the current one.
Sea to Sky has just opened its registration for youth and masters biathlon race programs this fall. Registration for winter programs, such as bunnies, jackrabbits, track attack, biathlon and ski jumping programs, is slated to start later this month.
Heilig is not certain why someone would take the ski jumping equipment.
“I have a feeling someone’s got this in their backyard,” he said.
He thinks that the culprit might have decided to set up their own ski jump at home.
In the meantime, the loss of the equipment is posing a challenge for Sea to Sky Nordic when it comes to its fall programming.
“Our club just doesn’t have 10 grand kicking around,” he said.
Sea to Sky has filed a report with the RCMP but also would like to hear from anyone that knows about the thefts at the site.
“We’d love to catch the people,” Heilig said.
In the meantime, Sea to Sky will be reconsidering how it secures the site.
“It’s a brand new community facility. Obviously, we’re going to have to beef up security.”
