South of Montréal in the middle of the majestic St. Lawrence River, the Parc Jean-Drapeau offers incredible views of the downtown Montréal skyline. This group of islands is a magnificent space to hold numerous sport competitions.
The park offers visitors a diverse range of recreational activities in a charming decor composed of trees, gardens, walking paths and cycling paths that connect with the vast Green Network of Montreal. It offers incredible views of the St. Lawrence and the downtown skyline. With its basins, canals, and beach for aquatic activities, it is also a part of Montréal’s important historical patrimony and includes major artistic and architectural works. Moreover, this jewel of the world is easily accessible by the métro.
On a more historical note...
Notre-Dame Island, the principle sport venue in this vast park, is a man-made island, created at the beginning of the 1960’s to welcome the Universal World Exhibition of 1967. The Canadian Pavilion (now the administrative office for the Société du Parc des îles), as well as the pavilion for France and Québec (now the Casino) are eloquent reminders of the history found on this island.
The United States Pavilion, a masterpiece imagined by the renowned American architect, Buckminster Fuller, has become, since 1995, the Biosphere. Its principle vocation is to educate its visitors about the challenges that face us all for the 21st century on issues related to water and climate change.
This island has undergone some major transformations over the years – the first for the 1976 Olympics: the Olympic basin was created. Next came the Floralies, an international garden display in 1980, then the Grand Prix Formula 1 race track, the Casino, and finally the naturally filtered beach.
 A
— Olympic Basin |
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The Olympic Basin was created on the Island of Notre-Dame for the Montréal Olympic Games held in 1976 for rowing competitions and canoe-kayak speed racing. It is 2.2 Km long and is the only installation in North America of this genre to be entirely man-made.
During the 1st World Outgames, it will be host to competitions like rowing, triathlon and the incredible dragon boat races.
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| B— Parc
Jean-Drapeau Beach |
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The Parc Jean-Drapeau Beach,
with its white sand and its controlled
excellent water quality, gives you the
chance to have a beach with all the allure
of a seaside resort while only minutes
away from a pulsing metropolitan city.
On the site there is an activity pavilion
that proposes a number of aquatic sports
as well: sailing, windsurfing, canoeing
and kayaking.
The beach is also an incredible
swimming zone (15,000 m2) on an island
lake, which occupies a surface of 122,000
m². The lake has a maximum depth
of 16 metres with 1.6 metres in the swim
zone. During its construction, some 500
trees and 2,500 bushes were planted while
30,000 tonnes of sand were added to create
a beach 600 metres long.
The filtration of the lake
is done completely through natural technologies
with reconstituted marshes operating
as the heart. The technology used makes
use of a suite of processes: decantation
basin, a lake filter, created by three
basins (where the water remains for two
days) that are populated with a variety
of 10 different water plant species,
eight oxygenaters, four sand filters,
etc. The result is an excellent quality
of water without any addition of chlorine.
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| C
— Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit |
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Located on Notre-Dame Island, in the middle of the Saint Lawrence river, the Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit annually hosts the Canada Grand Prix Formula 1 and the Montréal Champ Car Grand Prix. It gets its name in honour the renowned Québec car racer, Gilles Villeneuve, who died in 1982.
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| D
— Jacques-Cartier Bridge |
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Spanning the Saint Lawrence River, the Jacques Cartier Bridge connects downtown Montréal, Parc Jean-Drapeau and the south-shore suburbs. Each year, more than 43 million vehicles use this bridge, making it the most used bridge in Canada.
Opened to traffic on 14 May 1930, the bridge was only officially inaugurated ten days later with the name Pont du Havre; it was re-baptised as the Jacques-Cartier Bridge in 1934, in honour to the French explorer who discovered Canada in 1534. Back then, users of the bridge had to pay a toll-fee.
In Montréal tradition, the starting line for the 1st World Outgames marathon is the Jacques Cartier Bridge, just like the Montréal Marathon; the marathon will wind through Montréal streets to finish, for this event, at the Olympic Park.
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 Road
Race
10
km |
Half-marathon
21.1
km |
Marathon
42.195
km |
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