@poltroon It does seem sadly wasteful to build and tear down but it is still more sensible than build and leave to just rot as so often happened before the IOC changed it’s collective mind. I think the Athens Olympics was one of the worst for spanking new facilities immediately falling into disuse and I think it was after 2004 that the sustainability targets came in.
The initial proposal was the Selulveda basin, but they dropped that.
On the topic of build and tear down; I believe that several school districts received some of the temporary facilities, for some reason I’m thinking swimming facilities, from the 84 Olympics.
Also, if memory serves, the 84 Olympics were able to make money.
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My recollection is that the swimming events were held at USC.
The Amateur Athletic Foundation, which allocated the profits from the LA84 games, built the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center, where I am lucky enough to swim twice a week.
I don’t know about other facilities they built, though.
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For the most part in LA 1984 they did a great job of making anything temporary very temporary, like movie sets. A lot of the fancy columns and other “architecture” was basically cardboard movie set material + paint.
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I used to hack my horse out to Fairbanks Ranch from Showpark while the cross country course was being constructed. It was fascinating!
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[quote=“atlatl, post:19, topic:804858, full:true”]I didn’t intend to imply flat by use of the word parkland, simply that it’s not all houses and swimming pools. Also, perhaps we have different standards regarding “surrounding area” anywhere in LA county works for me, maybe even parts of Ventura county.
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Yeah there are plenty of places in LA County that could work, but if they are going to hold the main events at Santa Anita are they then going to truck the eventing horses to the other side of the county or somewhere else for cross-county? I doubt that. Then you are having to build essentially two equestrian facilities. So if they are going to do it at Santa Anita then cross-country needs to be right there too.
Great news. Was hoping for Del Mar, but Santa Anita will do !
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Of course you’re right! I have never been to Santa Anita or even in the neighborhood, but as an old retired animator, the idea of having the cross country through people’s back yards tickled me.
So sorry if you were not amused.
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and a water complex that looked like someones backyard pool with diving board and blow up floats would be fun too
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Oh, LOVE that!
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Galway owner didn’t see it coming. How could he not ?
The cost of construction and renovations, excessive summer heat, distance from international airports, lack of hotel rooms, small vet clinic/hospital nearby, remote location, etc. It was never a good idea.
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We all thought this was close to a done deal and it’s honestly shocking that he was surprised to have it pulled, that they never said, “you know, we’re very concerned about xyz and we’re also weighing you against Santa Anita.” That’s not only not hard, it’s only fair.
I’ve not seen any numbers that suggest that Santa Anita is a cost savings, and there’s been not a peep about how they will run cross-country.
The summer temperatures in Arcadia and Temecula are essentially identical.
The distance from airports is also fairly similar - Arcadia isn’t super close to any airport.
Galway has some access issues for tens of thousands of people, but I wouldn’t classify it as “remote.”
As I understand it, the existing vet clinics are comparable.
Regardless of the final decision, the idea that it was “never a good idea” to run at Galway seems pretty wrong to me.
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Disagree. Galway has become a real eventing destination in SoCal, and could handle the other disciplines. The decision is all politics and money, which is typical for the FEI and the IOC.
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While I get what you are saying and I 100% agree that Galway is completely capable of handling the actual disciplines, what I think was going to be an issue was the spectator crowd.
Other forums even on here have people commenting on what a nightmare the traffic can be during a weekend soccer tournament there. That is not going to be the crowd that cross country or show jumping finals would be.
It had to be part of the concern. Along with the availability of existing nearby housing for officials, staff, competitors, support staff, etc…
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In one of the other threads on this topic it has been mentioned that there is a requirement for this olympics that all the equestrian events be held at the same facility, so that would limit the ability to truck to another county for cross country.
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For the sake of the conversation:
San Diego Int’l Airport to Galway Downs: 70 miles, 1 hr. 15 mins.
Los Angeles Int’l to Galway Downs: 100 miles, 1 hr. 36 mins.
Los Angeles Int’l to Santa Anita: 34 miles, 48 mins.
Galway Downs Vet clinic on site : standard services
Santa Anita Racetrack Equine Hospital on site: standing MILE-PET scanner
Temecula weather in August : avrg. high 87F humidity 53%
Santa Anita: avrg, high 85F humidity 45%
Santa Anita has the spectator infrastructure in place for large crowds .
Galway Downs does not. It would have to be built.
Some amenities are similar, others not so much.
But the customer experience between the two venues is vastly different.
It will be very easy to market Santa Anita as the venue for the Olympics to national and international spectators. It will not be as easy to market Galway Downs to the public who are unfamiliar with the facility. Many people (such as horse show exhibitors) who are familiar with it will still be reluctant to attend because of the location and summer heat.
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