Lee Valley White Water Centre
About | |
---|---|
Locale | Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°41′18″N 0°00′56″W / 51.6883°N 0.0156°W |
Managing agent | Greenwich Leisure Limited |
Main shape | Two Loops |
Water source | Groundwater |
Pumped | Olympic: 5 pumps Training: 3 pumps |
Practice pool | Yes |
Lighting | yes |
Canoe lift | yes |
Opening date | 9 December 2010 |
Stats | |
Length | 300 m (980 ft) |
Drop | 5.5 m (18 ft) |
Flowrate | 13 m3/s (460 cu ft/s) |
Lee Valley White Water Centre |
Lee Valley White Water Centre (previously known as Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre) is a white-water slalom centre in the
On 9 December 2010, the Princess Royal officially opened the venue which is owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) under its "Better" brand.[1] The £31 million ($50 million US) project to construct the centre finished on schedule and was the first newly constructed Olympic venue to be completed.[2]
The Olympic canoe slalom competition was held from 29 July through 2 August 2012. The venue also hosted the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
Venue
The venue is located at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, adjacent to the River Lee, the county border with Essex. The site is just outside the northern boundary of Greater London and 9 miles (14 km) north-west of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London. It is in the heart of River Lee Country Park which is part of the 10,000-acre (40 km2), 26-mile (42 km) long Lee Valley Park.[3] The venue opened in late 2010 offering canoeing and rafting activities to the public ahead of the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
The venue has a purpose-built
The white water is created by a system of pumps which lift water into the two start pools. All of the water contained in the system is slightly chlorinated in order to retain water quality.[4] During the Games, temporary seating was installed around the venue for 12,000 spectators.
The 300-metre competition course has a drop of 5.5 metres[5] (18 ft), for an average slope of 1.8% (18 m/km or 95 ft/mile) and a pump-powered streamflow of 13 cubic metres per second (460 cubic feet per second).[6] The intermediate/warm-up course is 160 metres long with a drop of 1.6 metres and flow of 10.5 cubic metres per second.[5] A 10,000-square-metre lake, filled with groundwater, supplies the water for the pumps.[7] Lee Valley Regional Park Authority hope to bring in up to £45,000 per day from visitors to offset the energy cost of pumping the water.[8]
The course is sited within a new landscaped parkland setting, including path and bridge networks to enable spectators to have access and view the events. A new facility building houses reception, café, changing rooms, shop, offices, spectator viewing, equipment storage and water pump and filtration facilities.[4]
Pre-Games use
The venue was officially opened by the Princess Royal on 9 December 2010. It is owned by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and was originally managed by them as well, but since April 1, 2022, is now managed by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) under its "Better" brand.[9] The £31 million ($50 million US) project to construct the centre finished on schedule and was the first newly constructed Olympic venue to be completed.[10]
Lee Valley White Water Centre was the only brand new London 2012 venue available for public use before the Games. On 8 September 2012 it became the first London 2012 venue to reopen to the public. The centre is intended to provide canoeing and rafting activities for users of all abilities who will be able to take advantage of the Olympic and intermediate course.
Gate maps for 2012 Olympics
Two gate sets were used for the Olympic Games, one for the first two days (left) and another for the last three days (right). Each gate set had six upstream gates (red numbers), but gate #12 of the first set was a flush gate with the second pole directly downstream of the first. Paddlers entered gate #12 from the left wall side and exited into the main current. Gate #18 of the second set was a downstream flush gate, with entrance from the flow and exit into the eddy. A 90-degree right turn direct from #18 to #19 was faster than the 270-degree eddy spin used by many contenders. All the gates were double-pole. There was no use of single-pole gates.[12][13]
Post-Games use
The venue opened again to the public after the Games as part of the Olympic Legacy Works. Spectator seating was removed and the venue returned to providing a leisure attraction for canoeing and white-water rafting and a competition venue for elite events, to be managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.[4][11][14] In April 2011 it was confirmed that the centre would host the 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.[15] A £6.3 million redevelopment project was completed in February 2014 leading to the creation of new visitor facilities and new offices and training base for the GB Canoe Slalom team.
Design
The main facility building is designed by FaulknerBrowns Architects.
Following nomination from
The centre has also won or been shortlisted for the following awards: 2012 winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects East Spirit of Ingenuity Award; 2012 winner of Secured by Design Award; 2011 Essex Tourism Awards (shortlisted) Best Large Attraction and Best Tourism Experience.
Transport
Road
The site is located just off the
Rail
Rail access to the site is via
Bus
Cycle and pedestrian
The
References
- ^ "GLL to manage Lee Valley's sporting venues". 23 March 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Hertfordshire Mercury news item Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 10 December 2010
- ^ London2012.com venue page Archived 1 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Planning green light for London 2012 Canoe / Kayak slalom venue Archived 4 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine London2012.com Press Release, 1 October 2008
- ^ a b Construction underway on 2012 canoe slalom venue Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine London2012.com Press Release, 3 July 2009
- ^ www.leevalleypark.org.uk http://www.leevalleypark.org.uk/en/content/cms/White_Water_Canoe_Ce/Centre_information/Centre_information.aspx. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help)[title missing] - ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 January 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved 2 February 2010 - London Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ "GLL to manage Lee Valley's sporting venues". 23 March 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ^ Hertfordshire Mercury news item Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 10 December 2010
- ^ a b Lee Valley White Water Centre Information Page Retrieved 4 October 2010
- ^ www.nbcolympics.com http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/canoe-kayak/heats-mens-c-1-k-1.html. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help)[title missing] - ^ www.nbcolympics.com http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/canoe-kayak/semifinal-final-mens-c-1.html. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help)[title missing] - ^ New Canoeing venue in Broxbourne confirmed for the London 2012 Olympic Games Archived 20 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine London2012.com Press Release, 16 April 2008
- ^ "ICF - ICF selects Hosts for ICF World Championship Events from 2013 – 2015". Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ^ "International events". Work > Sectors > Sport. FaulknerBrowns Architects. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ London 2012: Press release Archived 24 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Venue map Retrieved 14 October 2009
- ^ London 2012: press release Archived 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Staff (11 June 2010). "Construction of Olympic White Water Venue on Schedule". BBC Essex. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ "News".
- ^ Sources: Institute of Civil Engineers, ICE Proceedings volume 165 Issue CE 1 February 2012
- ^ Timetable Archived 4 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 27 July 2012
External links
- Lee Valley White Water Centre Official Site
- Water Turned On
- Opening Day
- London Evening Standard: "Rapids of Rockies come to Herts for 2012 Olympic canoeists"
- FaulknerBrowns Architects
- 2015 World Championships
- 2012 Olympic competition results
- 2014 World Cup #1 K-1 Finals
- 2015
Full video of Olympic competition