Ice Arena readied for world horseshoe tournament

CEDAR RAPIDS - The horseshoes were already flying Wednesday even though a competitive pitch won't be made until Monday.

Workers were pitching horseshoes trying to break up the clay that will cover more than 50 courts in the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena for the 2010 National Horseshoe Pitchers Association World Tournament that will be held July 26 to Aug. 7.

Set up is progressing a little ahead of schedule, according to host tournament director Ralph Palmer.

"It's coming to fruition and people are seeing it being done and they're just working like hell to get it done," Palmer said. "We are going to be well over where we thought we'd be by noon tomorrow."

Volunteers and venue workers joined to prepare for the horseshoes event. The biggest task is converting two hockey rinks into 50 clay courts with an additional two playoff courts for the two-week competition. About 36 tons of clay on two dump trucks were hauled in from Centerville, and transforming the arena consumed Tuesday's and Wednesday's efforts.

"We built the pits, loaded the pits with clay, moved them around and busted up the clay," CRIA General Manager Jeff Dralle said. "All that good stuff."

The clay had been stored in the trucks since June and had been exposed to elements, including recent storms and heat.

"That made it more difficult," said Dralle, adding with a laugh, "Heck of an upper body workout today, which is fine."

Dralle said the NHL rink's ice is removed after each season. There isn't enough ice demand during the summer to warrant maintaining it, which saves money on the arena's energy bills. He also noted that sponsors for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and the sponsor logos change each year, causing the ice to be switched out annually.

"We shave it out every year," Dralle said. "That's just a concrete floor."

That floor was marked with chalk lines, outlining where they needed to set up the throwing surfaces.

The Olympic rink, however, wasn't removed. Crews put down about 30 palates of ice deck cover on the ice. The ice deck, acquired a couple years ago from a rink in Louisiana, is an inch-and-a-half thick, with a hard plastic top and an inch-and-a-half of insulation between some polycarbonate backing that goes on the ice surface.

"We put 20,000 square feet of that down to cover up the ice," Dralle said. "They came out and basically did the same thing and marked it out with chalk lines and rubber mats."

About 65 total workers, including 50 volunteers organized by the Iowa Hawkeye Pitchers Association and about 15 workers from the U.S. Cellular Center and ice arena contributed to the early set up.

LeRoy Law, the President of the Iowa Hawkeye Horseshoes Pitcher Association, which is co-hosting the event with the Cedar Rapids Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, praised the efforts of the volunteers. Without the volunteers' effort and support, the job wouldn't get done.

"It's really nice," said Law, noting 15 workers were preparing packets with sponsor information and programs for the competitors Wednesday afternoon. "Everything has been falling into place. I couldn't be happier. I'm looking forward for it to start."