Reflecting on 2020
Without doubt, 2020 did not go according to anyone’s game day plan. It goes without saying that COVID-19 hit especially hard on the sporting, events and tourism sectors, halting travel, competitions and all major sporting events for the majority of the year. With devastating impacts to worldwide industries, 2020 will certainly be a year that won’t be forgotten; however, pre-pandemic Richmond Sport Hosting hosted some incredible events, and certainly there are lesson learned from the COVID-19 circumstances that will help us all in recovery.
Heading into 2020, Richmond Sport Hosting was looking at our busiest year on record, with 56 confirmed events at the start of the year, and an anticipated doubling of room nights from previous years. We were looking forward to welcoming the world to Richmond with many highlight events, such as the 2020 CARHA Hockey World Cup, the 2020 IWRF Paralympic Qualification Tournament, the 2020 Indo Pacific Trampoline and Tumbling Championships, the 55+ Games, and the 2020 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating, to name a few.
Richmond was eager to play host to our first National-level water polo and climbing events, the 19U Western Conference Championships, and the 2020 Lead and Speed Nationals, respectively. These opportunities would have expanded our hosting portfolio, and built upon the foundation of successful regional and provincial events, elevating the level of competition available to our community.
Richmond was able to host 26 events up until mid-March when the pandemic of COVID-19 ceased all major gatherings and grounded international travel. These events included a variety of flagship annual events, with lots of ice time, including the Richmond Jets Midget Marriott Classic, Richmond Jets Trail Appliances tournament, Richmond Ringette West Coast Classic, Pacific Rings AA Lower Mainland Ringette tournament, and the Western Elite Circuit Speed Skating Championships.
Other annual events were hosted throughout the City, including SwingCouver and the Greater Vancouver Open Darts Tournament at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel. The BC Artistic Swimming National Stream Provincial Qualifier at Watermania, the Western Fox 40 Challenge at Minoru, and the Fencing World Cup at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
In 2019, upgrades to the North Rink at the Richmond Olympic Oval expanded our hosting capabilities for high-level para ice hockey competitions. Therefore, Richmond was thrilled to welcome the TrailblazerHERS Women’s Para Hockey Showcase; a 3-game series between Team Canada and Team USA. Spanning five days, this series was also used to develop the Canadian women’s para ice hockey program and outreach, with a community female mentorship session, autograph signings, a public try-it session, and integration into Olympic Day at the Richmond Oval. Overall, this initiative was a great success, it highlighted and contributed to women’s para ice hockey awareness in Richmond, and provided a development opportunity for our national-level athletes.
In early March it was all about wheelchair rugby at the Richmond Olympic Oval. In conjunction with their annual Vancouver International Wheelchair Rugby Invitational event, BC Wheelchair Sports won the bid to host the 2020 IWRF Paralympic Qualification Tournament. This was the first event of its kind hosted in Richmond, and was highly anticipated, as it consisted of eight participating countries battling it out for the last two qualifying spots at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Unfortunately, one week prior, due to concerns over COVID-19, Team Thailand withdrew from the tournament, leaving Team Canada, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, South Korea and Sweden to play a modified tournament format. In the end, Canada was undefeated and qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games along with France.
We were a few weeks out from hosting the largest international adult recreational hockey tournament in the world, with 147 teams, representing 15 countries. However, due to the escalading pandemic circumstances, and to ensure the safety of all participants and our community, the 2020 CARHA Hockey World was postponed. It was at this point that all sporting events were cancelled and postponed for the remainder of 2020.
Despite the restriction on events, the Richmond Sport Hosting Grant continued with all three intakes on a modified schedule. In total, 19 events were successful in their applications, with $52,115 in funding being awarded.
Although 2020 was very challenging for ourselves and partners, there was some lessons learned that are valuable to move forward with in our return to sport.
Stay flexible. Working with our partners at CARHA Hockey, the City of Richmond, Richmond Olympic Oval, Richmond Hotel Destination Association, and with the many other stakeholders and partners involved, we were successful in not only postponing the event once, but twice. The CARHA Hockey World Cup will now be hosted from March 27th to April 3rd, 2022, due to the ongoing pandemic as 2021 became unfeasible.
Work together. Richmond Sport Hosting was set to host Sport Event Congress in 2022. However due to the cancellation of the event in 2020, Richmond Sport Hosting worked with Sport Tourism Canada, the other host cities, and our partners in Richmond, to postpone to 2023. This was a collective effort, and benefited all parties involved. Sport Event Congress will be hosted in Richmond, March 21 – 23, 2023 at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel & Vancouver Airport Marriott.
Use technology. Although COVID-19 remains ongoing, and the Provincial Health Orders are altering, we know that technology can be put to good use. We have all adapted to virtual online meetings and other forms of connecting as a result. Working with event organizers to host events that are adapted to fit current PHO regulations will be our priority, and using livestreaming and other video services throughout our return to sport will be a valuable asset.
Although we yet to know what this year will look like, we look forward to utilizing the new Tennis BC Hub in the future, which opened in summer 2020, expanding our hosting capabilities and developing our Richmond athletes, volunteers and coaches.
Overall, 2020 was not the year anyone of us anticipated to have, and we want to thank and continue to support our stakeholders, partners, clubs, sport organizations and community through this pandemic and beyond. We recognize that many of you have gone through unprecedented challenges, and the road back to sport may have more curve balls than we would like. But we are hopeful for 2021, and look forward to welcoming back sport to Richmond and continuing our work with all of you
