Cardington Artificial Slalom Course (CASC) was the first artificial whitewater

canoe slalom Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a Spraydeck, decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on Whitewater, river rapids in the fastest time pos ...

course in the UK when it was completed in July 1982, having been first discussed in 1972.

Artificial whitewater

Based on the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

adjacent to Cardington sluice, within the grounds of Priory Country Park and approximately 2.5 km downstream from

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, the course has a dual role as both a flood control structure and a whitewater course for canoe slalom training and events. The course cost £273,000 and was funded by a consortium of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (now 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 ...

Anglian Water Anglian Water Services Limited is a water company that operates in the East of England. It was formed in 1989 under the partial privatisation of the water industry. It provides water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment to the area formerly ...

, the Sports Council (now UK Sport) and local councils and was seen as an excellent example of the relatively low cost adaptation of a necessary structure to provide a facility of national significance. The structure consists of an automatically controlled dropleaf control sluice, 9 metres wide, at the head of a concrete-lined channel which connects the upper reach of the river to the lower. The channel is 120 m long with a bed slope of 1:100. To create the required water flow pattern, fibreglass boulders known as "hippos" and "dollies" are secured to the base of the channel. The maximum head is 1.7 m with a maximum water capacity of 15 cubic metres per second. Originally seen primarily as a training venue, the course also holds two national ranking canoe slalom competitions per year at up to Division 2 level, and is the host every year to the Inter Clubs Final, which pits teams from all the top canoe slalom clubs against each other for an overall trophy. Running all weekend with camping overnight, the Inter Clubs is the largest canoe slalom event in the UK (by number of participants), a great social event for the sport and one of the highlights of the UK slalom calendar. The course celebrated its 25th anniversary in September 2007 with a visit by Frank Branston the Mayor of Bedford. The original project's vision of becoming 'a regional centre for canoeing' has come to fruition. Competition events at CASC are organised by Bedford's Viking Kayak Club which also organises national ranking events and finals in kayak marathon. Viking celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011.

Other UK artificial whitewater centres

* Lee Valley White Water Centre *

Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre 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 sports and has received investment which has e ...

* Nene Whitewater Centre * Tees Barrage White Water Course

References

General

Beds Times & Citizen Report on 25th Anniversary event

External links

Cardington Whitewater Website

Priory Country Park (blog)

Viking Kayak Club (VKC)
{{authority control Tourist attractions in Bedfordshire Artificial whitewater courses in the United Kingdom Sports venues in Bedfordshire River Great Ouse Sports venues completed in 1982 1982 establishments in England