Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre

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A view of the Sports Centre across the rowing lake

The National Watersports Centre, Holme Pierrepont is located in the hamlet of Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham, England and on the River Trent.

Run by Nottinghamshire County Council on behalf of Sport England, it is one of five National Sports Centres, a unique sporting venue set in the centre of the country.

Contents

[edit] Facilities

Set in 270 acres (1.1 km2) of parkland, the water sports centre is an ideal environment for water activities. The centre is made up of three distinct pieces of water:

  • Regatta lake, a 2,000 metre regatta rowing facility which features a six lane rowing course
  • A 700 m purpose-built white water canoe slalom course
  • A water ski lagoon equipped with slalom course and ski jump as well as a ski cableway.

Further, the River Trent is also accessible from the site. This is supported by an indoor training hall which is suitable for testing and is also available for indoor sports. The facilities provide a full range of award courses in:

  • Dinghy sailing
  • Windsurfing
  • Canoeing
  • Rowing
  • Water-skiing
  • Powerboat handling
  • Kayaking.

A sports science and medicine centre is purpose built and is available for use by governing bodies for physiology, sports injury/rehabilitation and physiological testing.

This is supported by an indoor training hall which is suitable for testing and is also available for indoor sports such as five-a-side football, badminton and volleyball.

The main centre building provides conference rooms, dining room, a bar, and accommodation for up to 85 people.

[edit] Whitewater course

Holme Pierrepont
Locale Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham
Website http://www.nwscnotts.com/
Main shape linear
Length 700 metres (2,297 ft)
Drop 4 metres (13 ft)
Water source River Trent
Flowrate 16 m3/s (570 cu ft/s) - 25 m3/s (880 cu ft/s)
Canoe lift No
Construction 1986
Date upgraded 2009
Coordinates Coordinates: 52°56′42″N 1°05′13″W / 52.9449°N 1.0870°W / 52.9449; -1.0870

The course is a focal point for English whitewater rafting and kayaking, often holding international events for slalom, freestyle and wild water racing. One hosted event is the National Student Rodeo, the largest freestyle kayaking event in the world. During this event the Centre received coverage in local news, and publications such as Canoe & Kayak UK magazine.

[edit] Location

The whitewater course is located between the weir on the canalised River Trent and the regatta lake.

[edit] Construction

Built in 1986, the course is made primarily from concrete. It is approximately 700 metres long, drops just over 4 metres in height to produce Grade 3 whitewater rapids. The course is gravity fed, does not use electricity to power it, and therefore is relatively cheap to run.

Due to the nature of the design, swimming through the course is safer than many other locations around the UK due to deep channels and few significant underwater obstructions.

The amount of water flowing through the course depends on rainfall, and canal usage, but due to the large catchment of the Trent, flows between 16 and 25 cubic metres per second are common. The course is more likely to close due to too much water (in the winter), rather than too little.

The course had a refit in 2009. Along with essential maintenance, some of the original concrete obstacles were removed and Omniflots (large plastic movable blocks) were added.

[edit] Sports

Apart from rafting which brings in the most novice or casual users, playboating, slalom and kayaking bring in the most regular users to the course with a minority of squirt boaters and small minority of open boat canoeists and wild water racing. The centre hosts Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club which gives lessons at the weekend and during the week on the flat water lake and the course. The course is also frequently used for water safety and water rescue training. The centre is also the base for Holme Pierrepont Running Club who meet on Mondays and Thursdays in the main reception area.

[edit] See also

Other UK artificial whitewater courses

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre
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Venues
Lucerne 1962 • Bled 1966 • St. Catharines 1970 • Lucerne 1974 • Nottingham 1975 • Amsterdam 1977 • Lake Karapiro 1978 • Bled 1979 • Hazewinkel 1980 • Oberschleißheim 1981 • Lucerne 1982 • Duisburg 1983 • Montreal 1984 • Hazewinkel 1985 • Nottingham 1986 • Copenhagen 1987 • Milan 1988 • Bled 1989 • Lake Barrington 1990 • Vienna 1991 • Montreal 1992 • Račice 1993 • Indianapolis 1994 • Tampere 1995 • Glasgow 1996 • Aiguebelette 1997 • Cologne 1998 • St. Catharines 1999 • Zagreb 2000 • Lucerne 2001 • Seville 2002 • Milan 2003 • Banyoles 2004 • Kaizu, Gifu 2005 • Eton 2006 • Oberschleißheim 2007 • Ottensheim 2008 • Poznań 2009 • Lake Karapiro 2010 • Bled 2011 • Plovdiv 2012 • Chungju 2013 • Amsterdam 2014 • Aiguebelette 2015
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