GB canoe team visit Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre to view progress
Date Published: 01/12/2009
Team GB view the site
The GB Canoe Slalom team visited the site of the Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre for the first time yesterday.
David Florence, Beijing silver medallist and Lizzie Neave, recent World Championship medallist were both impressed with the construction so far. David, who’s been involved with the sport for over 12 years said “Everyone is really excited about the developments here and with our Performance Manager Andy Maddock being involved in the design and development of the White Water Canoe Centre site we know we are in good hands for a fantastic home venue for the London 2012 Olympics.”
Lizzie was extremely positive about the visit and says winning bronze at the World Championships “was the inspiration needed to drive my commitment for the London 2012 Olympic Games. It’s incredibly motivating to know the site will be open for us to train at from Spring 2011 and as it’s a brand new home venue, we are all excited about what we can achieve here.”
Shaun Dawson, Chief Executive at Lee Valley Regional Park Authority welcomed the GB athletes’ tour and said:
“We were delighted to welcome Team GB, they seem to be very impressed with the progress so far. We welcome the team to this excellent venue and we will ensure it is well used by a wide range of people from the elite canoeists to people who’ve never paddled before. The Centre will open in Spring 2011 and again shortly after the Games when we are expecting around 70,000 visitors per year - most of them taking up the challenge of white water rafting. We’ll also be providing canoeing sports development opportunities for clubs, colleges, universities, schools and community groups.”
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) started construction work on the site in July this year but the venue itself will be owned, funded and managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority before and after the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The team were delighted with the progress of the course and will be spending a great deal of time training here when Lee Valley Regional Park Authority open the site to the public and elite athletes in Spring 2011. This is the only brand new London 2012 venue to open to the public ahead of the Games and will serve not only elite athletes but also the local community. It will be the first brand newLondon 2012Gamesvenue to be completed and will be a major centre for white water rafting as well as canoeing and kayaking after the Games.
John Anderson, Team GB’s Performance Director was delighted with the site and said “This is a fantastic white water course to have near London. We will maximise the time the team spend training here in advance of the London 2012 Olympic Games and we hope that will give us the home advantage.”