When COVID-19 forced Warner out of the University of Western and prevented him from crossing the border for warm-weather training in the U.S., Warner s coach Gar Leyshon with the help of about 100 people built a multi-events facility in the spartan Farquharson Arena. Picture a really cold ice rink. And then take out the ice. That s where we are, Warner laughed.
In a normal year, the 31-year-old and his training group would spend some of the winter in Thompson Arena on Western s campus, before escaping to the U.S. That was bad enough. It s funny, I was talking to some of the other athletes (about Thompson), and it s cold, and it s dark, and you re running around an ice rink. And everybody used to complain, right? Like, the corners were too sharp. It was cold in there. We couldn t wait until we got to training camps in Santa Barbara or Phoenix or Florida, or wherever, Warner said.
Damian Warner's training base is a 66-year-old unheated hockey arena that the City of London flagged for potential demolition more than a decade ago.But.