France's new rowing venue

Sitting in the north-west corner of France, the town of Gravelines is developing an Olympic class rowing venue. In the spring of 2011 the Olympic Nautical Stadium of Gravelines will be operational.

This opening time is strategically planned to make the most of the lead up to the 2012 London Olympic Games. Gravelines is just 2 ½ hours from London and 2 ½ hours from Paris and has already been called, ‘the most sporting town in France’.

The man-made nautical stadium sits next to the River Aa and is 2,237m in length, 138m wide and a minimum depth of 3m. One million m3 of water is needed to fill the nautical stadium. FISA’s events director, Svetla Otzetova has played an active part in the development of the specifications. 

Along the edge of the nautical stadium a landscape mound is planned. This is for protecting the course from wind and it will be 2,000m long, 70m wide and 16m high. This is scheduled for completion in 2012.

The New Zealand national rowing team has already signed up to make use of the facility and the team will use it as their European base from mid-June 2011 until the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia at the end of August.

The nautical stadium is developed to be multipurpose with specifications also suiting canoeing and long distance swimming. Set in a 175 hectare nature park there will be opportunities for many other activities such as cycling, inline and roller skating, children’s playgrounds and orienteering. By 2015 the area will include a 17 hectare lake for fishing and other recreational water activities.

A rowing regatta is planned for May 2011with the inauguration of the Nautical Stadium planned for 14 – 15 May 2011.

For more information: www.lepaarc.com

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