The Penrith Whitewater Stadium is located near

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is an

artificial whitewater 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. Course types Main types of course: ...

sporting facility which hosted the canoe/kayak slalom events at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. 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 The Sydney International Regatta Centre (SIRC), located in Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is a Rowing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, rowing and Canoeing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, canoe sprint venue built fo ...

. These lakes are not filled via the

Nepean River Nepean River (Darug: Yandhai), is a major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River and its associated mouth, the Hawkesbury River, almost encircles the metropolitan region of ...

, but are filled via rain water and

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

. The operation of the facility aerates the water and improves water quality in the flat water rowing and canoeing course. Penrith Whitewater Course Aerial

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 The City of Penrith is a local government area in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The seat of the city is located in Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith, located about west of Sydney's Sydney central business district, central business ...

, $1.5 million by the

International Canoe Federation The International Canoe Federation (ICF) is the umbrella organization of all national canoe organizations worldwide. It is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and administers all aspects of canoe sport worldwide. 157 countries are affiliated ...

(including $300,000 by

Australian Canoeing Paddle Australia is the Sport governing body, governing body for the sport of canoeing and kayaking in Australia. History The body was founded in Bexley, New South Wales, Bexley, New South Wales on 10 September 1949 as the Australian Canoe F ...

) and $3 million by the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

. 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.

References

2000 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 1. pp. 73–4, 377.

External links

*
OC1 at Penrith Whitewater Stadium
{{Olympic venues canoeing Sports venues in Sydney Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics Artificial whitewater courses Olympic canoeing venues Canoeing and kayaking venues in Australia Penrith, New South Wales

See also

References

External links