Willem-Alexander Baan (Dutch for Willem-Alexander Rowing Course) is an artificial lake in the Dutch village of Zevenhuizen near

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. It has been used as a rowing

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 ...

venue since 2012 and hosted the 2016 World Rowing Championships.

History

Planning for the rowing lake started in 2002. Construction started in 2011 and was undertaken by the

Government of Rotterdam The Government of Rotterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Rotterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the l ...

, and the facility was opened by

King Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beatr ...

on 26 April 2013. The first competition was held in 2012, i.e. prior to the official opening of the facility. The first large competition that was held here was the rowing part of the European Universities Games 2014. In August 2016, the venue hosted 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 ...

, the

World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic sur ...

, and the

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December of the year in which he reaches the age of 1 ...

Description

Willem-Alexander Rowing Course is located parallel to the river Rotte. The competition area is laid out with eight lanes using the

Albano buoy system The Albano lane system is a method of marking kayak, canoe and rowing racecourses using lines of buoys. It was first used internationally in the 1960 Summer Olympics held on Lake Albano, Italy. It has since become an international standard for most ...

. There is a second canal parallel to the competition area available for training runs and warm ups. The course was designed in collaboration with the

International Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (former abbreviation FISA; french: Fédération internationale des sociétés d'aviron), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who ...

(FISA).

References

External links

Willem-Alexander Rowing Course
* (in Dutch) {{coord, 51.9985, 4.5612, format=dms, type:landmark_region:NL_dim:10km, display=title Rowing venues Rowing in the Netherlands Sports venues in South Holland Sports venues completed in 2013 Artificial lakes Lakes of the Netherlands Sport in Zuidplas