Upgrade of Naseby rink all but completed

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Working on the Maniototo Ice Rink's $200,000 upgrade at Naseby are (from left) Maniototo Curling International chairman Gerald Dowling, rink manager Allan Dunford, and rink chairman Jock Scott. Photo by Rosie Manins.

A $200,000 upgrade of Naseby's outdoor ice rink is close to completion, with organisers hoping the rink can open on Saturday.

Maniototo Ice Rink chairman Jock Scott, of Kyeburn, said volunteers had almost finished laying 23km of refrigeration piping over the rink's base, which was being covered with plastic and levelled over the weekend.

By today, he hoped to be able to start preparing ice on the new surface.

Mr Scott said the rink's base had to be upgraded after its old piping system expired in 2006, 10 years after it was first installed.

The rink committee was granted $108,000 by the New Zealand Lotteries Commission to add to its own $53,000.

Mr Scott said that as well as new base pipes, a "support circuit" had been installed to allow the outdoor rink to operate independently of the [adjacent] indoor Maniototo International Curling Rink.

Mr Scott paid tribute to the "tremendous support" for the project from volunteers in the community.