Alcides Nieto Patiño Velodrome
Written by Jairo Chávez Ávila
A giant roof of 11,700 square meters with a fantastic 250 meters of Wooden Track which makes part of the new structure of the ALCIDES NIETO PATIÑO Velodrome and that was given to the service by the City Hall of Cali.
The recovering of the great roof and of the Wooden Track is one of the most important projects performed by the city administration through the Sports secretary, Dr. Rodrigo Santiago Perez who managed and executed the plan that rewarded this scenery with the status of being considered one of the best in the world.
The ALCIDES NIETO PATIÑO Velodrome has undergone the maintenance in all its facilities.
The project, technical studies, designs and construction have been developed by National, Regional and local Governments.
The ALCIDES NIETO PATIÑO velodrome, was built in 1970 and inaugurated in 1971 for the VI Pan American Games in Cali. The engineer Everth Schurman designed it and at the beginning its wooden surface was built with African wood.
In 1995, when Cali was the host city of the first Pacific Games, the velodrome got its roof and the wooden surface was changed from the African one, to Abarco (wood from the pacific coast of Colombia). Unfortunately some years later, on July 10 of 2001 its roof collapsed, falling over the track destroying it.
On Friday, November 2, 2007, 6 years, 3 months and 23 days later, the ALCIDES NIETO PATIÑO velodrome is handed back to the community by the Mayor of Santiago de Cali.
The ALCIDES NIETO PATIÑO velodrome´s capacity is for 7.650 comfortably seated fans, its quality has been recognized internationally, to the point that Santiago de Cali, appeared annually on the agenda of the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI, as one of the rounds of the Track World Cups, and seven of them were carried out here, in Santiago de Cali.
It was inaugurated in the framework of the Para-panamerican Cycling Championship Open which took place from November 8 to the 18 of 2007.
The most important event that returned is the round of the Track World Cup, thanks to the Federacion Colombiana de Ciclismo and the Valle Cycling Ligue, since 2008.
This year, by tenth time, velodrome is the scenary for the Track Cycling UCI World Cup, that awards quotas to Olympic Games, London 2012.
• Structure and rolling surface made in Abarco wood (wood from the Colombian Pacific Coast).
• Length: 250 meters.
• Width 7 meters.
• 11º max. on the straight.
• 46 º max on the bend.
• Metal Structure.
• Roof area 11,700 square meters.
• Manufacturer: Hunter Douglas
201 powerful Metal Halide type bulbs were placed. Generating 1.000 Lumax lighting which is the requirement the UCI demands for their homologated and final endorsement. The lights are distributed on the Track, Public Stands and general areas, they were also place on the top, for an absolute vertical lighting system, except 24 lights that were placed on the roof.
• 62 light bulbs of 400 Watts at the public stands.
• 80 light bulbs, 18 of them are 1500 watts, for the Track.
• 24 light bulbs of 400 watts of power for the roof.
• 35 GP incandescent light bulbs of 500 watts of power place in general areas and emergency exits.
