The Port Angeles Pump Track celebrates its grand opening at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 6, at Erickson Playfields in Port Angeles.
The Port Angeles Pump Track is the largest Velosolutions Pump Track in the Pacific Northwest. The track is large enough to host Red Bull UCI national qualifiers.
In addition, the track is also the first ever Adaptive Track in the United States built by Velosolutions and second of this kind in the world.
Making special appearances on July 6 will be Pump Track pros Kialani Hines, Jeremy McGhee and Aaron Fotheringham (aka Wheelz), and local adaptive rider and world record holder Ian Mackay will also be on hand.
This event is free and open to the public; after the grand opening, the track will officially be open for all to enjoy, event organizers said.
Long-term goal
The vision on the Port Angeles Pump Track started more than three years ago when a few community members wanted to add a pump track as a place where their children, the community and visitors could freely ride all day.
“I’m a dad whose love of watching his kids ride their bikes has grown into loving to watch all kids enjoy riding their bikes- this all started with one simple balance bike,” Lincoln Park BMX track operator Sean Coleman said.
In 2019, Coleman along with Cathrine Copass and Victoria Jones, approached Corey Delikat, Port Angeles Parks & Recreation Director, about building a Pump Track in Port Angeles.
“Three years later, Port Angeles will have the largest pump track in the Northwest and the first in the country to have an adaptive track element to it,” Delikat said.
“Projects like this do not happen without public and private sponsorships and support from the community. Sean, Catharine and Victoria are another example of dedicated volunteers that make amazing things happen for our community.”
Community, business support
The total cost of the track was approximately $880,000, with $669,950 coming from grants including: $350,000 from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) grant, $200,000 from Clallam County Lodging Tax Funds, $100,000 from City of Port Angeles Lodging Tax Funds, $15,000 from the Outride Fund, $2,500 from Ben and Myrtle Walkling Memorial Trust and $2,450 from Port of Port Angeles Community Partners Fund.
First Fed, the presenting sponsor of the Pump Track, donated $50,000. In addition, the Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles donated $15,000, and $5,000 each came from the Nor’Wester Rotary Foundation, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.
Other community businesses that donated funding included; Fogtown Coffee, Bedford’s Soda, Agnew Grocery and Feed, GSD Concrete and Construction, Earth Tech Roofing & Construction, Green Crow, Randy Parker Logging, Hartnagels & Angeles Millworks and more than 60 individual community members whose combined donations topped $10,000.
In addition to cash donations, local businesses donated over $100,000 worth of materials, supplies and services to help build the Pump Track, including: Red Lion Hotel Port Angeles, Angeles Concrete Products, Ferguson Waterworks, Bruch and Bruch, Zenovic & Associates, Clark Surveying, Alex Anderson Concrete, Jockey’s Landscaping, Interwest Construction IncLakeside Industries, Contech Engineered Solutions, GeoTK, C & J Excavating, Green Crow, Fogtown Coffee, Barhops Brewing & Artisan Pizza, The Rail, Shirley’s Cafe, Little Devil’s LunchBox and Buena Luz Bakery.
