Thursday, April 25, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
Langford is set for a treat! Back-to-back high profile sporting events this weekend are just a hint of what’s to come for the sports tourism growth of the bustling west shore municipality.
On Saturday afternoon are the Super Channel 2019 Boxing Championship finals at Bear Mountain Resort, which is a pre-qualifier toward the Olympics.
And the next day the inaugural Pacific FC soccer game will be a bang-up show including flypast, concert and fireworks at Westhills Stadium.
As well, Rugby Canada — which is based in Langford — is holding their Annual Awards & Hall of Fame event tomorrow evening, April 26, at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria.
“The residents are looking forward to a great weekend of sports in Langford with the Super Channel boxing on, and the inaugural soccer game at the new stadium,” says Langford Mayor Stew Young. He remarks on the support of all the fans who are coming out to these events.
Bleachers are still under construction at Westhills Stadium but the Pacific FC colours of purple and white are now represented in seating that spells out P F C in the stands.
A lifelong resident of Langford and 26 years the mayor, Stew Young’s passion for sports drives this new level of economic development for the city based on attracting visitors and sports fans from well beyond the west shore.
“It will be a super sport weekend for fans up and down the island. There’s a great buzz of excitement leading up to the Pacific FC game,” said Young.
Promotions for that event have been rolling out since last summer, including the tryouts in November 2018 and announcing signed players over winter and spring 2019. So this launch is about a year in the making.
Earlier this week Langford heard that improvements will be made to Highway 1 between the Leigh Road Interchange and West Shore Parkway.
The project between Leigh Road and the West Shore Parkway includes widening from three lanes to four and installing a new median barrier to separate traffic. A new northbound through lane will also be constructed at the West Shore Parkway intersection, to help with more efficient traffic flow at that signalized intersection. All of that will help ease Victoria-to/from-upisland commuter and tourist traffic which runs through Langford.
West Shore Parkway is an access point for just a two-minute drive to Westhills Stadium. The recently completed Leigh Road extension also leads to the stadium at Langford Parkway in one direction, and to Bear Mountain in the other. All of these routes feature Olympic Corridor decorative banners.
Ten of the Canadian Premier League (CPL) games will be broadcast live on CBC this year, though none of those will be Pacific FC home games this season. There are seven teams in the CPL league.