Historically, traditional indoor velodromes are made using Siberian larch wood. However, the architect for this project, chose to work with Accoya® wood due to its unique qualities and benefits.
Track cycling history has been made on the Accoya® wood track during the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships presented by Tissot this month, with new world records made by the USA’s Chloé Dygert and the Netherland’s Jeffrey Hoogland. Dygert cycled to glory in the 3km individual chase whilst Hoogland struck gold, twice, in the 1,000 metre and 1 km trials.
Historically, traditional indoor velodromes are made using Siberian larch wood. However, the architect for this project, Sander Douma of Sander Douma Architects, an avid cyclist himself, chose to work with Accoya® on this project due to its unique qualities and benefits. Accoya® offers superior dimensional stability so won’t splinter, shrink or swell, providing a perfect solution for this unique application. The team behind the design and build used specialist technology to calculate the structure of the circuit as well as the curvature and fall velocity of the track to create the most efficient structure.
Sander Douma of Sander Douma Architects commented: “It is the modification process that makes Accoya® perfect for this application. The smooth texture makes for a very fast track; the finished track has fewer seams than a standard velodrome, meaning cyclists will benefit from less resistance and fewer fractional losses in speed as they attempt to record faster times.”
Jeffrey Hoogland, Dutch cyclist and world record holder commented: ”The atmosphere in the stadium and the quality of the, fast wood track have definitely contributed to the fact that I’ve managed to sharpen my time to world record status. I feel honoured to have been given the opportunity to wear the rainbow jersey.”
Justin Peckham, Regional Head of Sales for Accsys Group, manufacturer of Accoya® wood, commented: “We are delighted that Accoya® wood was chosen as the ideal material for the track at the Omnisport Apeldoorn multi-sport indoor arena. It has been great to see the world’s best track cyclists in action on the Accoya® track with multiple world records made. Accoya® is proven as a sustainable, durable, and stable material, making it perfect for demanding application such as this. We’re looking forward to seeing more world records broken in the future on this track!”
Manufactured using a proprietary acetylation process, Accoya® wood delivers remarkable levels of stability, sustainability and durability. Exceeding the high quality and aesthetic attributes of tropical hardwoods, Accoya® wood boasts excellent environmental credentials, withstands the most extreme external environments and is incredibly low maintenance with 90 years of research and development to prove its reliability.
