Track Rebuild Committee pushing to raise enough funds to save the Goderich track

West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance recently made a $3,000 donation to the project. Pictured are Corey Boyle, Alyssa Blanchard, Niki Machan, Ryan Glajch, CEO, Travis Shelton and Dough Cruickshank.

In a final push to raise enough funds to save the Goderich track located across the street from GDCI, the Goderich Track Rebuild Committee encourages the community to help raise the remaining funds.

The track has been deemed unsafe and may soon be torn up and replaced with a stone dust track.

The Goderich Track Rebuild Committee is aiming for an asphalt track, which offers advantages over a stone dust track, making it the preferred choice.

Asphalt tracks have a longer lifespan, provide better shock absorption, are more weather resistant, easier to clean and maintain and are designed to enhance performance.

With refurbishment, the track could provide students and local athletes a place for recreation and sport for the next 50 years.

The track is under ownership of the school board, yet GDCI must rely solely on donations and grants to support this project.

Recent donations include West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance $3,000, and K2Wind Ontario made a $1,000 donation, while local families – the Lynn family, the Reddington family and the Jeffrey family - made their donation through the committee’s Sponsor a Metre Campaign.

The Sponsor a Metre Campaign remains open, and families, or groups of friends can sponsor one metre of the track for $1,000.

“We want to thank every single person who has donated, shared our posts, spread the word, bought a hot dog or supported us in any other way,” Corey Boyle, a committee member shared.

“This project could not be made possible without the generous support from our community, and we are so grateful to those who have helped us so far.”

At a recent meeting, the committee received an updated quote last week since the initial quotes for the project were three years old.

The track is now quoted at $600,000, and although the board has now committed to paying $100,000 towards the project, the committee remains responsible to raise the other $500,000.

“We are at $220,000 currently, so we need to raise another $280,000,” explained Boyle.

“We’re making great progress but still have a long way to go, and we need to keep the momentum going.”

The committee will host three upcoming fundraisers in attempt to raise enough funds for an asphalt track.

The group remains focused on raising most of the funds before the end of this year and have hopes to move forward with construction in the spring.

From October 8 until October 22 at Bluewater Restaurant, you can round up your bill or donate your change to the project.

On October 15 at McDonalds in Goderich, 20 per cent of sales will be donated from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m.

On November 1 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. the Christmas Craft Show at GDCI will feature pictures with Santa by donation.

For more information on the track rebuild project visit the Goderich Track Rebuild Facebook page.