Richmond Olympic Oval

This review is of the Oval as a tourist destination, and not based on any of the businesses within. There is lots to discover here; the outdoors has many places to sit and watch the water (or airplanes flying overhead, as it is near the airport), the architecture is magnificent, and there are lots of stories being told by the surrounding artwork. There are free, outdoor places to play beach volleyball, chess, ping pong, and others, and a beautiful garden. There is a dog fountain outside of the parkade that was not functioning during my visit.

great place, you will see some of olympic events before. lots of activities like rock claiming, hockey etch. nice staff. overall its worth to visit

The facility is first class as it was the 2010 Olympic venue however the staff at customer service are the least helpful, not understanding and rude people I have ever come across. I asked to use my VMIFF Climbing voucher, that year due to the Climbing wall being delayed in it's construction VMIFF at the OVAL was delayed as well. Due to the Pandemic starting I was not able to use as the OVAL climbing wall was online booking only, I asked the front desk after purchasing an Registration slot when I show up could I redeem my Climbing Voucher? They said they can not process a return so I can not use it. I asked them if there was a way to use it and they said no. A few months later I asked to use the voucher again however this time they took a look at the voucher and said that the voucher has expired and that they would not honor it. I cited the previous reason and they had no intention of helping. The Front desk staff are unenthused with their work and have no place working in customer service, not sure if it is work place complacency or power tripping. After that experience I decided to try a 7 day trial hoping to eventually get a year membership. However I now get another unenthused customer service representative, both unhelpful and obstructive I managed to book only 1 climbing session in 7 days. I mean its a great facility and as much as I want to get a membership there, I have serious doubts in wanting to spend money there. Not to mention my concerns about safety at the climbing wall, as they are understaffed (1), inexperience of staff and can not adequately manage the safety of climbers. People are lead belaying without proper vetting. With the potential of decking and clotheslining for the lead climber. As there is minimal oversight/enforcement of safety rules. Most staff except for the rare occasion have very little to no climbing experience. From my experience working at a climbing gym I can no longer recommend anyone come to the oval other than for their tall walls. I DO NOT RECOMMEND any beginners climbers to come to this location. Not to mention my severe concerns of flaunting COVID regulations as I see basketball players play without masks it is only a matter of time before there are transmission cases coming from this facility, at the original time of this review. Update: I'm glad that the oval invests in their staff with getting their ACMG certification. As a municipal facility I think it is expected that your staff is certified and knowledgeable. But like all certification it is just a piece of paper, and it is up to the staff to keep current on those skills. However the main point is that it appears your climbing wall is understaffed or have too many responsibilities , as they spend more managing the desk than they do to keep unsafe behavior in check. As I've witnessed over the course of my time at the oval which was 5 consecutive Wednesday nights in a row, by the time I wrote my original review. Furthermore even with your ACMG certified staff, I have witnessed a few lead test that they have performed, and they were sub optimal, with a few safety considerations glossed over, especially clipping errors. Having staff that have worked at the oval for two years prior to working in the climbing area, does not show anything other than time commitment, and seems to me like an arbitrary rule that management has set. The mask issue that I have brought up at the time, the current restrictions were on group activities, i.e. dance studio dance classes, spin classes, group yoga and that sort. I don't see why the reasons you pointed out in your reply that it applies to running a basketball camp without masks with the points I highlighted above.

Friendly staff, good variety of gym equipment and great hours. Also love how flexible their membership plans are, you can opt to have it paused for 3 months or quit without any problems (unlike other private gyms).

Great fitness classes! The coaches I've had (Chris, Hector, Pat Yee) bring incredible energy to the class, and are clearly passionate about their job!

The staff are friendly, but we had a very mediocre experience using the climbing walls. We had booked 2 hours to climb, and the staff made us wait for 30 mins into our session before doing a safety orientation which did not include any bouldering safety for the children we took with us who were going climbing for the first time. They then told us to leave 10 minutes before our session was over, so we only had 1:20 climbing time out of a two hour session booked. The climbing walls are nice but the bouldering is very limited in selection and are not graded as one would expect of other gyms. I also had a very difficult time booking the sessions, I called the Oval multiple times and was told to do different things by every staff member. The online portal only let's you register one person at a time per account and because I was registering children, I had to make accounts for them which included making new emails for them as well. Overall the system is very non-user friendly. My biggest complaint is the lack of safety regarding the orientation, particularly because I had young children with me.

World-class facilities. Nice and open, you can go to the fitness area and workout while watching various sports and activities live.

The indoor climbing wall facility was top-notch. The staff are knowledgeable and supportive. On my first visit and climbing experience, they made us feel welcomed and made our experience a blast. The trainers were friendly and encouraging.