China Creek Cycle Track

"It was the first real cycling track Vancouver had ever had. Before that, Ace [Atkinson] told me he’d be racing literally on the horse race track at Hastings Park. They would race on the dirt. So to get a banked wood cycling track, this was a big deal for Vancouver. Huge deal for the local cyclists. It definitely elevated cycling in the city." - Jason Beck, Curator at the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

Plaque

The China Creek Cycle Track was built here for the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games. Around 1900, Chinese farmers had worked the land along the creek south of Broadway; the track stood on fill atop the creek’s ravine, used as a city garbage dump until 1946. By the 1960s the track deteriorated, but it was rebuilt in 1973 and used until 1980, when Vancouver Community College transferred its campus from 12th and Oak. Track cycling moved to the Burnaby Velodrome in 1997.

In loving memory of Lorne ‘Ace’ Atkinson

History

China Creek – A brief history of the flatlands and origin of the Name
Some 150 years ago, the area around China Creek was a dense rainforest with numerous creeks passing through tidal flats on their way to the ocean. At that time, False Creek extended as far east as Clark Drive. China Creek, with a length of 16 km, was the largest stream flowing into False Creek from 45th Avenue near Renfrew Street. It flowed through Trout Lake before reaching seawater where China Creek Park now sits, its fast-running waters carving deep ravines. In the 1880s, Englishman Charles Cleaver Maddams purchased a plot of land at the mouth of a huge ravine that was already being farmed by four Chinese vegetable farmers and two Chinese pig farmers, Pien and Duck Fo. The Maddams family created a 5-acre ranch, and named the creek “China Creek” after their Chinese neighbours.

Maddams eventually lost the farm to taxes and it was turned over to the City in 1922, which began using the ravines as garbage dumps. By 1941, neighbours were organizing against the stench and potential health risks, prompting the city to abandon the dump in 1946 and create a new one at 63rd and Kerr, now Everett Crowley Park. As a result, the waters were diverted into a sewer pipe and the ravines covered over.  Today, China Creek, along with several other creeks, continues to flow through the area but is completely contained underground.

The China Creek Cycle Track – A Legacy of the 1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games

In the early 1950s, the China Creek Bowl, a 250-metre oval cycle track made of rare yellow cedar, was built for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games on the ground that now covered the sewer pipe and ravines. One of the first of its kind in Canada, the track, or velodrome, was steeply banked to allow for speed and maneuverability. Lorne “Ace” Atkinson, cycling legend and owner of Ace Cycles, raced on it in the 1954 games as captain of the Canadian team.

“It was the first real cycling track Vancouver had ever had,” says Jason Beck, curator at the BC Sports Hall of Fame. “Before that, Ace told me he’d be racing literally on the horse race track at Hastings Park. They just would race on the dirt. So to get a banked wood cycling track, this was a big deal for Vancouver. Huge deal for the local cyclists.” Ace had a strong connection to the site, having grown up just two blocks from China Creek. One day, while the track was being constructed, Ace rode by the construction site, peeked over the fence and noticed a portion of it was complete. “They threw their bikes over the fence, cleared the track from the workers’ tools, the nails and boards, and cycled a few laps on those tracks,” says Beck, adding that this made him the first to ever cycle the new track.

He told me that because he was so familiar with the track, he was able to train on it for months leading up to the game, he’d learned how to use the steep banked corners – they had 45 degree banked corners. If you weren’t going fast enough on those corners, you’d literally slide down the track from the top to the bottom. So he learned that if you could use your speed and go higher than a rider on the track, as you came down, you gained speed and could pass them.” Ace used the technique to good effect, posting Canada’s best result at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games of 1954.

Saving the Track from the Bulldozers…  temporarily

After the Games, China Creek remained the centre of cycling in British Columbia, hosting regular competitions and international races. But the track wasn’t built for longevity, and by the late 1960s, its wood was rotting away and the Parks Board moved to demolish it. Ace, along with a group called C-Track, raised the funds to repair and save the track from the bulldozers, extending its life by another ten years, and allowing another generation of cyclists to grow up and train on it.

By 1980, the China Creek Bowl was demolished for the construction of the King Edward (now Broadway) Campus of Vancouver Community College. In 2013, a Places that Matter  plaque was unveiled at VCC to commemorate the cycle track. Many in the cycling community attended the presentation and shared history about its influence and legacy in Vancouver’s cycling community. The plaque can be seen today along the sidewalk outside VCC’s Building B on Glen Drive. A Mount Pleasant Walkway project sign is also nearby at the corner of Glen Drive and East 8th Avenue. If you want to catch some live track cycling today, you’ll need to head to the Burnaby Velodrome.

Sources

Sports-Related Places That Matter

Media & Photos

Community Stories

I will never forget my first introduction to bicycle racing. It all happened at the China Creek Velodrome after reading an article inviting teens to come down and try riding at the track. It was 1978 and I was 16 years old. I was so excited to go and was not disappointed in the least. Upon arrivaI was greeted by Bas Lycett a man with a long history of racing and coaching in the world of bike racing. Bas left a long lasting impression of commitment and endorsement of the sport . He set me up on one of the entry level track bikes they had for people to use then told me to make sure to maintain speed on the banks. Away I went . It was the best thing I had ever experienced in my young years. Wow riding around there as fast as my legs would propel me and that bike made me feel fantastically alive. When Bas took me aside and said that I look really good on the bike mean alot to me and so I carried on training and racing at the track until it was demolished to make way for VCC. That piece of property served my life again as I attended the Automotive Mechanic Pre Apprentice program there as soon as it opened. Many thanks to Bas and anyone else who built or maintained China Creek over the years. My experience there laid the trail for me to continue racing into my 40's. I'm 57 now and still am in love with my bikes and my sport.Thank you Vancouver!!

This is me in a five mile event narrowly missing being taken down by Nick Van Male at the 1958 North American Cycling Championships.

Address

Glen Dr. & E 8th Ave.
Vancouver Community College

Located on the westside of VCC

49.26319666347198, -123.08105348675537

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