The City of Red Deer held a ceremony to celebrate another one of its recreation amenities on Friday afternoon. This time, enhancements to the River Bend Golf and Recreation Area.

Upgrades made over the past year included 5.5 km of widened trails for skate skiing, winter biking and other uses. The biathlon range was also renovated.

The work was done so River Bend would meet venue standards for the 2019 Canada Winter Games.

“By bringing it up to that national and modernized sports standard, it’s actually positioned Red Deer so we can attract major sporting events, particularly on the biathlon range. It’s made us eligible for even more sports tourism as a result of these infrastructure upgrades,” said Mayor Tara Veer.