12:56pm Monday 15th March 2010
By Edmund Tobin
AN OLYMPIC canoeist has visited building work on the site she hopes to one day win gold on.
Team GB Canoeist Laura Blakeman was given a tour of the 2012 Canoe Slalom site, off Highbridge Street, on the border with Waltham Abbey, by Olympic officials to see for herself the progress in construction work there.
Since work began on the site, in July 2009, much of the course and landscaped features of the venue are well progressed and building work on the main structure is near completion.
The Olympic Delivery Authority hopes the site will be fully completed by the end of the year with the course open for pre-Olympic competition in April 2011.
Laura Blakeman said: “It’s great to see the progress being made on this fantastic new canoeing venue, particularly the completion of the Olympic starting pool where I hope to compete on home soil in 2012. It was having local canoeing facilities that helped me in the early stages of my career so I’m delighted that after the excitement of the Games in 2012 this new venue will leave a lasting sporting legacy for a new generation of canoeists of all ages and abilities.”
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