The new regional aquatic centre has been popular since it opened in September, hosting some major sport events, welcoming Commonwealth Games swimming star Lewis Clareburt as well as some of New Zealand’s upcoming swimming talent.

The centre has also become the new home for Sun Devils Swim Club, the Hawke’s Bay Water Polo Club, gym membership increases due to the new facilities, and the new Learn to Swim programme with over 500 children attending.

In October Swimming New Zealand hosted its U18 National Age Group camp at the aquatic centre, making the most of the wide range of facilities including the onsite hostel for 23 swimmers.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre General Manager Nathan Manu says the facility has exceeded expectations through the turnstiles as well as impressed all users.

“The uptake has been better than we had expected and that’s fantastic. We have over 60 swim squads training, over 500 learn to swim participants and we’ve got new fitness centre/pool members.  In mid-December we will also host the Hawke’s Bay Poverty Bay Long Course Swim meet, a first for the region and we continue to make improvements including setting up a retail swim shop area with swimming gear such as goggles and training equipment."

Swimming New Zealand High Performance Team Services Manager Holly Fletcher said it was fantastic for athletes and coaches to use the pool and other training facilities that are all “under one roof. It was a pretty hectic two day training camp, so it’s great that we didn’t need to travel from accommodation to the pool, all we needed to do was walk less than a minute and we were into our training."

Commonwealth double gold medallist swimmer Lewis Clareburt now hopes to regularly use the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre as part of his bid for Olympic gold in 2024.

Lewis trained alongside upcoming Hawke’s Bay swimming talent Emma Godwin in the lead up to the centre hosting its first swim meet on behalf of Greendale Swim Club, which saw a record 250 swimmers from over 20 clubs compete.

“The Aquatic Centre is the best of its kind in New Zealand; the 50 metre pool is really impressive while the broader offering such as resistance flume training, the high performance training centre, café and hostel accommodation are second to none,” Lewis said.

Lewis believes Hawke’s Bay swimmers now have a significant advantage over swimmers from other regions, predicting Hawke’s Bay has the potential to create future Olympic champions.

“It’s taken swimming to a new level in New Zealand, the resources are amazing and it is certainly a venue that I am keen to visit often as part of my training plan.”

The aquatic centre also got the big thumbs up from all involved in the Greendale Meet.

Secretary Emma Taylor-Meynell said “We usually get 4-6 clubs involved but the appeal of the new aquatic centre attracted many more competitors. The feedback has been that the facility is amazing and that the pool was very fast with many swimmers reaching personal bests.

Article added: Monday 28 November 2022