Holme Pierrepont Country Park, home of The National Water Sports Centre is located in the hamlet of Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham, England and on the River Trent. It is used for many different types of sports and has recently received significant investment which has enabled a major refurbishment of existing facilities as well as introduction of new facilities.[1]
Run by Serco on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council, it was previously one of five National Sports Centres, and is a unique sporting venue set in the centre of the country.
History
The centre was constructed during 1970 and 1971 on a former gravel works and required the excavation of one and a half million cubic yards of material. The centre opened in 1971[2] and won second prize in the 1972 Times/RICS Conservation Awards and was consequently chosen to host the first National Rowing Championships in 1972.[3][4]
Until 2009 the centre was operated on behalf of Sport England however control was returned to Nottinghamshire County Council due to priority changes around the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2013 a new management team from Serco Leisure was put in place, on a 21 year contract with an obligation to maintain and upgrade the site's facilities.[5]
Facilities
Set in 270 acres (1.1 km2) of parkland, Holme Pierrepont Country Park not only offers a host of water activities, but also a range of land based activities. The centre is made up of three distinct pieces of water:[6]
Regatta lake, a 2,000 metre regatta rowing facility which features either a six lane rowing course or a 9 lane Sprint Kayak course
A 700 m purpose-built white water canoe slalom course
An open water swimming and Canoe polo lagoon. This used to be the site of a wakeboard cabletow, however this suffered neglect and eventually collapsed into the lake and was removed.[7]
Outdoor Adventure Park
Holme Pierrepont Country Park also has an Outdoor Adventure Park, formerly known as the Family Fun Park, located in the Country Park area of the site. Opened in 2014, which includes:
Sky Trail High Ropes Course
Mini Golf
Children's Play Area
Country Park Café
Skytrail and Sky Tykes
The Skytrail is a high ropes course that allows participants to challenge themselves to cross a multitude of obstacles on two levels without needing to be detached at any point. Sky Tykes is a miniature version for smaller children.
Mini golf
Beneath the Skytrail sits a 9- hole mini golf course that increases in difficulty with each hole.
Gym
There are two new gyms which were opened in 2014 - these include a 60 station Life Fitness gym which overlooks the Regatta Lake and a specific Strength and Conditioning gym. Equipment includes:
The New Life Fitness Discovery Range
Resistance Equipment from Life Fitness’ Premium Signature Range
Power Plate
Life Fitness – Synrgy360 Functional Training
Trixter Virtual Training Bikes
SpeedStroke Kayak Simulator
Squat Rack
2 x Olympic Lifting Platforms
Free Weights
Benches
Assisted Chin Dip
Accommodation
The site has 54 refurbished en-suite bedrooms in the main Lakeside building, as well as a self-contained cottage called The Elms, which sleeps up to 11 people. The site also has an 18-acre campsite containing a mixture of grass and hard standing pitches, some available with electric hook up, 5 Tipi's (introduced in 2016) and 10 Camping Arches (insulated wooden huts for camping in).[8]
Conferencing facilities
The centre offers conference and meeting facilities and has four refurbished conference rooms, with the largest room catering for up to 150 people.
Holme Pierrepont Country Park also offers team building activities alongside their conferencing packages.[9]
A sports science and medicine centre, ran by the English Institute of Sport, is purpose built and is available for use by governing bodies for physiology, sports injury/rehabilitation and physiological testing.
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.
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. As the course is directly connected to the Trent high river levels cause the course to progressively flood from the bottom upwards. The whitewater course is open to the public up to a river level of 2.2m as measured at the Environment Agency Colwick gauging station.[10]
The course was renovated in 2009. Along with essential maintenance work, some of the original concrete obstacles were removed and Omniflots (large plastic movable blocks) were installed.
Sports
Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre is home of British Canoeing, the national governing body for canoeing and kayaking in the UK, whose headquarters are at the site.
The Holme Pierrepont Canoe Club gives lessons on the flat water lake and the course, which is also used for water safety and water rescue training. It also hosts rafting, playboating, slalom; kayaking plus squirt boaters, open boat canoeists and wild water racing.
One of the main sports held at the centre is rowing, using the 2000 metre multi-lane rowing lake. The Centre was the venue for the World Rowing Junior Championships in 1973, and for the World Rowing Championships in 1975 and 1986, and many major competitions for UK rowing. Typically the safety is outsourced to local lifeguard unit Colwick Park Lifeguards who have been part of the team at Holme Pierrepont since 1979.
The centre is also the venue for many running and triathlon events, using the lake, internal tracks and easy access to local roads
The centre is the base for the Holme Pierrepont Running Club.
The centre was chosen to host the Sea Scout 100 national Sea Scout Centenary Jamboree in August 2009. Over 3000 Sea Scouts attended including the USA and New Zealand.
