Holme Pierrepont Country Park, home of The National Water Sports Centre is located in the hamlet of

Holme Pierrepont Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet and civil parish located south-east of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the Gamston ward of the Rushcliffe local authority in the East Midlands region. The population of the civil parish ...

near

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and on the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

. 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. Run by Serco on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council, it was previously one of five

National Sports Centres There are three National Sports Centres as part of Sport England's strategy to create elite English world class sporting talent: * Bisham Abbey * Lilleshall * Plas y Brenin Each centre provides elite athletes with a range of specialist facil ...

, 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 and won second prize in the 1972 Times/RICS Conservation Awards and was consequently chosen to host the first National Rowing Championships in 1972. Until 2009 the centre was operated on behalf of

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

however control was returned to Nottinghamshire County Council due to priority changes around the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. 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.

Facilities

Set in 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: * Regatta lake, a 2,000 metre

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

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 * A open water swimming and

Canoe polo Canoe polo, also known as kayak polo, is one of the competitive disciplines of kayaking. The sport is also known simply as "polo" by its players and supporters. Each team has five players on the pitch (and up to three substitutes), who compete ...

lagoon. This used to be the site of a wakeboard cabletow, however this suffered neglect and eventually collapsed into the lake and was removed. Further, the

is also accessible from the site.

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 * Climbing Wall * 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.

Climbing wall

A 10-metre climbing wall with four sides offers both a challenge to climbers of all abilities and a phenomenal view of the river.

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).

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.

Courses

The facilities provide a full range of award courses in: canoeing, kayaking, and raft guide training. 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 Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

, sports injury/rehabilitation and

physiological Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

testing.

Whitewater course

The course is a focal point for English whitewater rafting and kayaking, often holding international events for

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

and

wild water racing Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

. One hosted event is the

National Student Rodeo National Student Rodeo is a freestyle kayaking event in the UK hosted bLeeds University Canoe Club ThNational Student Rodeois now the biggest freestyle kayaking competition in the world, with 670 entrants and over 1000 party goers from 36 universi ...

, 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.

Location

The whitewater course is located between the

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

on the canalised

and the regatta lake.

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 Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

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 A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

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 The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

Colwick gauging station. 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 Country Park, home of The National Water Sports 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 Holme may refer to: * Holme (surname) Music * Holme (band) Places Antarctica * Holme Bay Denmark * Holme, Aarhus England * Holme, Bedfordshire * Holme, Cambridgeshire * Holme, Cumbria * Holme, North Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire * Holme, Nort ...

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 Canoe freestyle (also known as playboating) is a discipline of whitewater kayaking or canoeing where people perform various technical moves in one place (a playspot), as opposed to downriver whitewater canoeing or kayaking where the objective is ...

;

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

plus

squirt boaters Squirt or squirting can refer to the following: Animals * Sea squirt, a marine animal Arts and entertainment * ''Squirt'', a comic strip in the ''Funday Times'' * "Squirt" (Fluke song), a song by Fluke * ''Squirt'' (TV series), a New Zealand ...

, 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 The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of the ...

in 1975 and 1986, and many major competitions for UK rowing. Typically the safety is outsourced to local lifeguard uni
Colwick Park Lifeguards
who have been part of the team at Holme Pierrepont since 1979. The centre is also the venue for many Triathlon events, including the Outlaw Half and Full Triathlons. The full triathlon sees over 1100 athletes from all over the world taking on a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run. 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.

References

External links

*
UK Rivers Guide

Nottingham HPP whitewater course users group

Colwick Park Lifeguards

Holme Pierrepont Running Club website

Holme Pierrepont Country Park Trail
{{authority control Rowing venues in the United Kingdom Sports venues in Nottingham Lakes of Nottinghamshire Artificial whitewater courses in the United Kingdom River Trent Sports academies Country parks in Nottinghamshire Water sports in England