The new field house in east Saint John was officially named the Irving Oil Field House on Sept. 16, 2019. (Photo: Brad Perry/CHSJ News)
The new Irving Oil Field House in Saint John has already booked its first big national championship.
The U SPORTS Track and Field Championship will come to the sporting complex in March of 2021.
Chris Belof, head coach of the UNB track team, says being able to host national caliber events will raise the bar for track athletes in the province.
“This is huge for the region,” he said in an interview.
“When you get really elite athletes in a province and competing at a national championship, you get a lot of your younger athletes saying ‘you know what, people are running fast, competing at a high level, I can do that.’ It’s really cool that we’re going to in the next couple of years probably create that kind of situation here in New Brunswick.”
Belof says the new sports complex is a game changer for the sports community, and opens up doors to new opportunities.
“Within the Atlantic region there aren’t a whole lot of six lane 200 metre ovals that have the capacity to host or have the capacity to really entertain larger events,” he said.
Bill MacMackin, president of the Saint John Track and Field Club, and assistant coach of the UNB track team, agrees.
“There is no other facility like this east of Montreal,” he said in a release. “To be able to host a premiere national championship meet in this building in 2021 will give us a chance to showcase it to the entire country. It will be the first of many big events we hold here.”
Belof says UNB will be hosting three or four track and field meets this year in preparation for the U SPORTS championship, which he calls the “crown jewel.”
“The Atlantic Championships, and the Canadian Masters Championships in March (2020), so as far as sports tourism goes and facility hosting, its already starting to book up with some pretty decent events that are going to be hosted here in Saint John,” he said.
UNB will also host the Atlantic University Sport Track and Field Championships at the Field House next February, an event that has been held in Moncton for over 30 years.
Belof says hosting these events is “a big step forward” for track and field at UNB.
The 2020 U SPORTS Track And Field Championship will be held at the U of A in Edmonton, From March 5th to 7th.
