Penrith Whitewater Stadium

Last updated

Penrith Whitewater Stadium
Penrith Whitewater Course Logo.png
About
Locale Cranebrook, Australia
Designer Hydrostadium
Main shapeLoop
AdjustableYes
Water source Penrith Lakes
PumpedFive of six pumps
Practice poolYes
Canoe liftYes
FacilitiesYes
Opening dateMarch 1999
Stats
Length320 m (1,050 ft)
Drop5.5 m (18 ft)
Slope1.7% (91 ft/mile)
Flowrate14 m3/s (490 cu ft/s)
Penrith Whitewater Stadium

The Penrith Whitewater Stadium is located near Sydney, Australia. It is an artificial whitewater sporting facility which hosted the canoe/kayak slalom events at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The facility is part of the Penrith Lakes Scheme, which is converting open-pit sand and gravel mines into lakes for recreation. It is close to Cranebrook and is adjacent to the Sydney International Regatta Centre. These lakes are not filled via the Nepean River, but are filled via rain water and ground water. The operation of the facility aerates the water and improves water quality in the flat water rowing and canoeing course.

Contents

Penrith Whitewater Course Aerial.jpg

The course is in the shape of a massive 'U', 320 metres in length, between 0.8 and 1.2 metres deep and between eight and 12 metres wide. The overall drop from top to bottom is 5.5 metres. During events a conveyor belt is used to take boats, and their occupants, from the finishing pool back to the start.

As the course has been built in a relatively flat area (flood plain), it has been built up and landscaped to create the sloping course necessary for the required rapids. Five of the six available 300-kilowatt pumps lift the water from the bottom to the start of the course, at the rate of 14 m³/s.

The channel is constructed from concrete with sloping sides. By setting river pebbles into the concrete an effect to make the course look like a natural river has been created. Large immovable rocks shape the course, as well as movable obstacles which may be used for varying the difficulty of the course and for fine-tuning of the rapids.

The total cost of construction was $AU6 million, of which $1.5 million was paid by Penrith City Council, $1.5 million by the International Canoe Federation (including $300,000 by Australian Canoeing) and $3 million by the Government of New South Wales.

The facility, which includes a cafe, is a popular recreational area, offering large rubber raft rides, as well as individual kayaking/canoeing. It is regularly used for local, national and international canoeing/slalom events. It is accessed via McCarthys Lane, which runs off Castlereagh Road, Cranebrook.

It served as the host venue for the 2005 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

It also hosted the 2014 Junior/U-23 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

On 1 July 2023, the NSW Office of Sport took over operation of venue.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canoeing</span> Activity of paddling a canoe

Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other activities such as canoe camping, or where canoeing is merely a transportation method used to accomplish other activities. Most present-day canoeing is done as or as a part of a sport or recreational activity. In some parts of Europe canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an open canoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canoe slalom</span> Competitive sport

Canoe slalom is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is one of the two kayak and canoeing disciplines at the Summer Olympics, and is referred to by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as Canoe/Kayak Slalom. The other Olympic canoeing discipline is canoe sprint. Wildwater canoeing is a non-Olympic paddlesport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre</span> Sports venue near Nottingham, England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augsburg Eiskanal</span>

The Augsburg Eiskanal is an artificial whitewater river in Augsburg, Germany, constructed as the canoe slalom venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics in nearby Munich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artificial whitewater</span> Artificially created water sports venue

An artificial whitewater course (AWWC) is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Valley White Water Centre</span> White water sports venue in Hertfordshire, England

Lee Valley White Water Centre is a white-water slalom centre, that was constructed to host the canoe slalom events of the London 2012 Olympic Games. On 9 December 2010, Anne, Princess Royal officially opened the venue which 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. The £31 million project to construct the centre finished on schedule and was the first newly constructed Olympic venue to be completed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardington Artificial Slalom Course</span> White water sports course in England

These are the results of the men's K-1 slalom competition in canoeing at the 2000 Summer Olympics. The K-1 event is raced by one-man kayaks through a whitewater course. The venue for the 2000 Olympic competition was in Penrith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Segre Olympic Park</span>

Parc Olímpic del Segre is a canoeing and kayaking facility in La Seu d'Urgell, Catalonia, Spain, built in 1990 for use during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocoee Whitewater Center</span>

The Ocoee Whitewater Center, near Ducktown, Tennessee, United States, was the canoe slalom venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and is the only in-river course to be used for Olympic slalom competition. A 1,640 foot stretch of the Upper Ocoee River was narrowed by two-thirds to create the drops and eddies needed for a slalom course. Today, the course is watered only on summer weekends, 34 days a year, for use by guided rafts and private boaters. When the river has water, 24 commercial rafting companies take more than 750 raft passengers through the course each day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanupark Markkleeberg</span>

Kanupark Markkleeberg, built in 2006, is the second of two artificial whitewater canoe/kayak slalom courses in Germany, and the only one powered by pumps. The other German course is the Eiskanal in Augsburg, used in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. Kanupark Markkleeberg is located on the southeast shore of Markkleeberger See, a lake south of Markkleeberg, a suburb on the south side of Leipzig. A former open-pit coal mine, the lake was flooded in 1999 with groundwater and developed as a water recreation area. The lake is part of the Leipziger Neuseenland, the largest landscape construction project in Europe, which is reclaiming formerly barren industrial and mining sites for recreational use.

The 2005 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium under the auspices of International Canoe Federation. It was the 29th edition. This marked the first time the events took place on the Australian continent on the venue that hosted the slalom canoeing event for the 2000 Summer Olympics in neighboring Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships</span>

The 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held 8–12 September 2010 at Tacen Whitewater Course, Slovenia under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the record-tying third time. It was the 33rd edition. Tacen hosted the event previously in 1955 and 1991 when it was part of Yugoslavia, and joins the following cities that have hosted the event three times: Spittal, Austria ; Meran, Italy ; Bourg St.-Maurice, France ; and Augsburg, Germany. Women's single canoe (C1W) events became a medal event after being an exhibition in the previous championships.

Scott R. Shipley is an American slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1988 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adventure Sports Center International</span>

Adventure Sports Center International is an Olympic standard white water rafting and canoe/kayak slalom center located on the mountaintop above the Wisp Ski Resort at Deep Creek Lake, McHenry, Maryland, United States. In addition to serving as a venue for slalom races and training, the center offers a range of services to the general public including guided raft trips, inflatable kayak rentals, and riverboard rentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of canoeing and kayaking</span> Overview of and topical guide to canoeing and kayaking

Canoeing – recreational boating activity or paddle sport in which you kneel or sit facing forward in an open or closed-decked canoe, and propel yourself with a single-bladed paddle, under your own power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ondrej Cibak Whitewater Slalom Course</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vienna Watersports Arena</span>

The Vienna Watersports Arena is an artificial whitewater venue for canoe and kayak slalom competition in Vienna, Austria, the only such facility in Austria. It also serves as a family water park, with guided raft trips and practice times for individual boaters. Located across the Danube from the city, on Danube Island, it pumps its water from the New Danube river channel. It opened in August 2013; the following June it hosted the 2014 European Canoe Slalom Championships.

The 2016 Oceania Canoe Slalom Championships took place from 19 to 21 February 2016 in Penrith, Australia, under the auspices of International Canoe Federation (ICF), at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium facility, which was also the venue for the canoe/kayak slalom events at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

References

33°43′14″S150°41′01″E / 33.7205°S 150.6835°E / -33.7205; 150.6835