Heavy Duty Synthetic Ice
Horizon Rink, Fort McMurray
The Challenge
This commercial heavy duty synthetic ice case study will describe how one company understood the value of adding this product to their job site. Recreation can be pretty scarce at a tar sands camp in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The thousands of hard working men and women at these camps put in long hard days. The camps are always challenged to find ways to keep morale high and put infrastructure in place that competes for and attracts the best work force. One forward thinking camp went on a quest to seek out the world’s best synthetic ice product in a showcase effort to promote physical activity, extracurricular fun, while improving their environmental footprint. In addition to a realistic skating experience the Horizon team also wanted to be able to use the synthetic ice surface for large scale corporate site events as they did prior to the rink installation.
Product
The Solution
A team from the Horizon site literally went across Canada visiting multiple synthetic ice venues and testing the best of the best synthetic ice products. After a rigorous competition, they chose SmartRink. They saw the obvious benefits of our Smart-Lock heavy duty connection system while enjoying the seamless and almost effortless skating experience that comes from our excellent German engineered and manufactured synthetic ice panels. The product was ordered in July and delivered by ocean freight to the Port of Montreal and then by rail to Edmonton where it was off loaded then trucked to the site.
The Result
The client has been so satisfied with the results that they’ve extended an invitation to bring over anyone who wishes to view the rink – probably the ultimate compliment in client satisfaction!
Horizon Rink is, we believe to be, the largest permanent operating synthetic ice rink in the World today. SmartRink is incredibly proud of that accomplishment. The rink is 171 feet by 83 feet. The permanent solid line markings are also installed using the Smart-Lock connection system. We installed 9 permanent face-off dots, centre red line, 2 blue lines, 2 goal lines and 2 goal creases.