‘We’re a sports community’: Memories of Pomeroy Sport Centre as it reaches 15-year anniversary

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A local sports and recreation facility which has hosted world champions celebrated a milestone during Thanksgiving week.

While not having a formal celebration, the Pomeroy Sport Centre in Fort St. John celebrated 15 years as a facility, first opening its doors in the fall of 2010.

The venue features two full-size hockey rinks and a walking track along with its centrepiece: a full Olympic-sized long track speed skating oval.

Current city councillor Trevor Bolin and former Peace River North MLA Dan Davies were both on Fort St. John council when the project got off the ground.

Both spoke to Energeticcity.ca about the vision the city had in bringing a premier speed skating track to Fort St. John, and added, like speed skating, there were challenges from start to finish.

“[The original vision] was a true sports centre,” said Bolin. “Whether it was [for] hockey, kids hockey [or] whether it was the walking track or the speed skating oval.”

Bolin said the facility was “a very hot topic” during the 2008 election, when construction was well underway.

“There were issues with work not being completed. There were issues with the project being out of scope from what it was supposed to be,” said Bolin. “It is funny because I can still remember back to some interviews where people asked, ‘what are you going to do with this facility if you were to get elected?’ And I’d say, ‘we’re going to finish it.’”

Davies said he had just started his political career, and said building the facility was driven by the idea that Fort St. John “is a sports community.”

“We were talking about all the different events, and the positive economic impact that we could have on the city,” said Davies. “Just having two ice services at the time, hockey teams are practicing until midnight and starting at five in the morning, just because there was not the ice time.

“I think [that] was really the motivator behind moving forward with this.”

Commissioned in 2009, the facility has held long-track speed skating events, including races for the 2015 Canada Winter Games and the 2024 Canadian Neo-Junior/Junior National Championships, among others.

When opening on October 13th, 2010, both Bolin and Davies were challenged to don speed skating attire and race alongside brothers Denny and Jay Morrison.

Both Morrisons tasted international success, with Jay winning the 2002 bronze medal at the World Junior Long Track Speed Skating Championship and Denny winning four Olympic medals and additional medals on the world cup circuit in both individual races and team pursuit.

“We were not aware that we were racing,” said Davies. “I was handed something that looked like something from a Cabbage Patch doll. I was like, ‘how am I going to put myself into that?’”

Both men agreed that the Pomeroy Sport Centre did give Fort St. John national recognition in the speedskating community.

In fact, the venue is one of only three facilities – joining the Olympic Oval in Calgary and Quebec City’s Centre de Glaces Intact Assurance – with an Olympic-level speed skating oval in Canada.

“There’s very few facilities like that,” said Bolin. “There’s not even a handful of them in Canada. When you look at something like that in Fort St. John, not only are we preparing for our next Olympian winners, but those that are in other communities and those that are coming here on a national level are able to do the same thing right in Fort St. John.”

More details about the Pomeroy Sport Centre are available on the city’s parks website.