After more than three decades apart, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and a portion of the iconic Challenger Relief Map have been reunited in a special exhibit, now open at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
Originally housed together in the B.C. Building Complex at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE), the Challenger Map debuted at the PNE during the British Empire Games in 1954 and 12 years later, the Hall became its original home.
As part of the “Shared PNE Roots” exhibit, BC Sports Hall of Fame curator Jason Beck has added some other beloved pieces of memorabilia from the original PNE days.
“It is fantastic to see the Hall and the Map reunited at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame at B.C. Place Stadium,” says Beck. “The additional memorabilia in the exhibit, which includes the life-like wax figures of B.C. sport legends Cyclone Taylor, Lester Patrick, and Willie Fleming as well as the Hall’s original bronze unveiling plaques, comes from our artifact collection of the PNE era of the Hall’s history. I anticipate this will be an extremely popular exhibit, which will hopefully encourage interest in supporting current fundraising efforts to fully restore the Map and return it permanently to its original home at Hastings Park.”
The temporary exhibit, which will run for the next several months, is now open for viewing as part of the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s many displays.
The Challenger Map is a provincial treasure that took creator George Challenger, his children and grandchildren seven years to construct. The Challenger Map occupied 1,850 square metres of floor space at its original PNE home in the BC Pavilion complex. Proudly on display from 1954 until 1997, the Map is a topographical scale model of British Columbia made from fir plywood cut into 986,000 pieces.
“Our family is thrilled to see the Map on display at the BC Sport Hall of Fame,” says Bill Challenger, President of the Challenger Relief Map Foundation and son and grandson of the Map’s creators. “With interest in the Map growing, having it as a special exhibit at the Hall of Fame is an important step towards finalizing the funding for returning it to Hastings Park. We are excited that visitors to the Hall will be able to enjoy a portion of the Map this summer.”
When the B.C. Pavilion was demolished in 1997 to make way for the Hastings Park Sanctuary, the Challenger Relief Map was placed in storage at an Air Canada hangar at the Vancouver Airport, where it remained until a portion was restored and temporarily displayed at the RCMP detachment in Richmond for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Fundraising is now underway for the restoration of the Map and costs related to the permanent installation at Hastings Park.
Those wishing to support the fundraising efforts to refurbish the rest of the Challenger Map and build it a permanent home, can visit the BC Sports Hall of Fame over the next six months and make a donation.
