The city of Oldsmar is no stranger to welcoming BMX enthusiasts and soon they'll have room to welcome several more.
The city is opening the country's second Olympic style BMX Supercross track. The first is in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
The $2 million track is the first of its kind in the state of Florida and will be twice as large as Oldsmar’s previous track. The new course will be able to accommodate BMX Olympians as they prepare for the 2016 summer games in Rio.
"There's very limited opportunities for people to race on or even practice on a super cross track. We hopefully will get some of the teams from other countries coming in and renting the facility to use for practice prior [to the games]," said Lynn Rives, Leisure Services Director for the City of Oldsmar.
Rives said people from 38 states and 16 countries visited the smaller track last year and they’re confident that having bigger hills and a larger track will bring in even more economic opportunities for the city.
"I think it's great for the community, it puts Oldsmar in a higher level of sports tourism which is very important for the community and very important for the businesses," said Rives.
The course is set to open August-September 2015. The city will host the BMX event Gator Nationals on October 16.