Work is well underway on the downtown pump park being established in the Quarry by Bike Cochrane.

Jim Rooney, a Bike Cochrane director and manager of Garmin's Canadian headquarters, says they've received generous support for the development of the park, located behind the Garmin building on Bow. St.  Many have pitched in to make the park possible with both in-kind materials and cash donation.

Springwood Development Inc. donated the land for the park.

Thanks to donors, 75 to 80 per cent of the funding is in place for the project and more corporate sponsors and individual donations are welcome. While poor weather has set back some of the timelines, Bike Cochrane aims to have all the finishing touches added by spring.

The groundwork is being completed by volunteers and Michael Fedun, of Final Cut Creations, will be managing the park's logistics.

Bike park concept

The centrally located park is a starting point for Bike Cochrane's ambition to expand upon the town's bike infrastructure. It will also be an added attraction for the region's biking community.

Rooney says they have been in heavy consultation with the town and developers on the need for more cycling infrastructure. They're also thrilled to have bike facilities included in the master plan for the future Horse Creek Sports Park.

"We have some bigger aspirations to build bike infrastructure in Cochrane and this is a great starting place," says Rooney.

"The town and donors have been awesome and we're talking to all the big developers as they bring their plans online. They're coming and talking to us about putting in place bicycling infrastructure at the very beginning. We'll look at where we can retro stuff, too, but we might as well get the new stuff included in future developments. That's already starting to happen but that's a long-term window."

Bike Cochrane has made huge inroads in a relatively short time. They've created a partnership with Cochrane Tourism and were part of an Explore Cochrane event that promoted Cochrane as a destination for visitors.  Their membership continues to expand and an open house and membership drive will be held near the end of November.

To find out how you can help put the pump park fundraising over the top email cochranebikesociety@gmail.com. Gold, silver, and bronze corporate sponsorships are available and offer many perks for contributors.