KATIE Archibald still remembers the first time she rode in a velodrome. For a while afterwards the future Olympic champion wasn’t sure if she had been cycling or sailing.

“My first time was at Meadowbank and I came off feeling like I had been on a boat,” she recalls. “I remember lying in bed that night and it felt like I was still going round and round in circles. I was totally awestruck by the whole thing, although it was a bit scary, too. There’s that steep banking and if you don’t pedal hard enough you’ll fall off. It’s a really thrilling thing to ride in a velodrome.”

Now Archibald wants more cyclists to be able to savour that experience. The wooden outdoor track at Meadowbank has recently been demolished, leaving the Sir Chris Hoy Arena in Glasgow as the only proper velodrome facility in Scotland.

With the Glasgow velodrome often at full capacity and difficult to reach for those living in other parts of Scotland, Archibald is lending her support to a proposal to construct a new £15m multi-sport arena in Inverness that would serve the Highlands and beyond. At its centrepiece will be a 200-metre velodrome; a project that is under the guidance of HiVelo, a charitable trust dedicated to bringing track cycling to the north of Scotland.

All being well, this facility based at the Inverness campus of the University of the Highlands and Islands will open its doors in the winter of 2021/22.

“You see the Scottish programme that’s based [at Glasgow] and the opportunities that gives people. From an elite perspective that’s very good and Scottish Cycling has been having a lot of success with that.

“From an amateur perspective, though, it’s a bit different. My dad, for example, has got really into track cycling in the last couple of years and goes to the open sessions with his friends. But these sessions are constantly booked out. The uptake and interest in people getting on the track is huge.

“You’ve got people travelling from miles and miles to get on at Glasgow. People who take it very seriously will travel down from the Highlands but for people up there similar to my dad – for whom it’s just a casual affair – they won’t make that journey.”

Mike Greaves, secretary of HiVelo and still an active cyclist in his 70s, confirms it is badly needed.

“There are no basic facilities for track riding up here just now,” he says. “There are a few off-road circuits but they weren’t built for cycling.

“We’ve got some great track riders here and some of them already riding for Scotland and Great Britain. But everyone gets lost to us. If you’re a rising talent you need to be in Glasgow, Manchester or further afield. So it will be great to have a second velodrome in Scotland.”

Archibald had to postpone a recent planned visit to Inverness due to poor weather but hopes to head north soon to support a project she is passionate about. While emphasising that creating a setting for casual cyclists like her dad is just as important as creating a facility for the elite, the Milngavie rider points to recent history to show that a future Olympian from the Highlands will likely follow if the velodrome goes ahead.

“I believe that if you build a velodrome in Inverness then in 10 or 20 years’ time you will have an Olympian from that part of the world as that is the trend that we’ve seen with facilities throughout the UK,” she says.

“If you were to draw a timeline the correlation would jump out immediately. Once upon a time Edinburgh had the only velodrome in the UK and, surprise, surprise, Chris Hoy and Craig MacLean were the best cyclists in the country and both were from Edinburgh. Then in 1994, the Manchester velodrome opens. Jason Kenny is six at the time and on that track by the time he’s 10. Fast-forward to today, and he’s Britain’s joint most successful Olympian.

“It’s so explicit the connection between the facility and the success. And if you build a velodrome in Inverness I do believe they will experience the same.”

Even with a stripped down version of the original proposals, there is still a considerable funding effort to be undertaken. HiVelo are hoping to raise £1m through crowdfunding, with the track itself likely to cost in the region of £650,000.

“I think it’s a much more robust financial position and more afford-able at £15m,” adds Greaves. “But it’s still a lot of money to raise which is where the crowdfunding comes in as it’s going to be a community-based facility rather than a profitable enterprise. I’m in my 70s but I’ve got my track bike ready and am looking forward to riding in the velodrome when that day comes.”