City looks to reopen Sportsplex pool

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/08/2021 (1659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Brandon is hoping to reopen the Brandon Community Sportsplex pool sometime in September, according to a fall programming guide that was released by the Parks and Recreation Services department on Thursday.

Parks and Recreation director Perry Roque confirmed this rough timeline on Friday, telling the Sun over the phone that no firm date has been set as of right now.

“We’re hoping that by the end of September, the facility will be opened,” he said.

The Sportsplex pool has been closed to the public since March 2020, when COVID-19 cases first began emerging throughout the province.

While city officials had planned to reopen the pool in the fall of last year, a third-party review conducted during the closure found problems with the facility’s water, air circulation and drainage systems.

As such, the city was forced to undertake extensive repairs throughout the winter, spring and summer.

While these actions were necessary, Roque concedes that closing the pool for a year and a half has been difficult for many Westman residents, especially since the pandemic has severely limited recreational activities that are available to the public.

“For many people in the city, the pool was one of their only forms of regular exercise,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of people out there that benefit from swimming or Aquavit … so there’s lots of programming that we do out of the pool that is a great benefit to the community.”

Thankfully, when the facility finally reopens, Roque said that the city is planning to offer all of its usual pool programming, which includes swimming lessons for preschoolers, children aged 5-12 and teens.

Organized groups like the Brandon Bluefins Swim Club will also have an appropriate place to practise once again, with the Sportsplex containing the only 50-metre indoor pool between Winnipeg and Regina.

Bluefins head coach Barb Fay told the Sun via email that club members are planning to be get in the pool by early October if all goes as planned.

“At present, we are scheduled to host the Junior Provincials in (February) of next year,” Fay wrote. “Bluefins will be working with the Sportsplex and Swim Manitoba to follow all the protocols for indoor sports, keeping our participants as safe as possible.”

While the forthcoming fourth wave of the pandemic may complicate the rollout of the city’s fall and winter programming, Roque reiterates that his department will stay in lockstep with the province’s health restrictions during this time to make sure the Sportsplex pool is a safe destination for visitors.

“We may have to put in some more planning in terms of how we get people in,” he said. “If that’s what Public Health restrictions are, then we’ll work with that and get as many people in as we can.”

The Brandon Community Sportsplex was first built in the mid-1970s to serve as a major venue for the 1979 Canada Winter Games.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter:@KyleDarbyson