Warwickshire News Mine

Venues such as the Pingles Leisure Centre in Nuneaton, Draycote Water, near Rugby, Rugby School, Stoneleigh Park and the Morten Morrell site of Warwickshire College have all been chosen.

These venues and many others around the UK will feature in the London Organising Committee Pre-Games Training Camp Guide, it was revealed today.

The assessment of applicant facilities for the guide has amounted to an audit of high quality facilities throughout the UK and has shown that there are many excellent sporting facilities available throughout the UK.

Over 600 facilities will appear in the guide, to be published at the Beijing Games. It contains high quality elite sporting facilities right across the UK which will give teams and individual athletes a great selection of venues from which they can choose to prepare for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Guide will be circulated to all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs). These organisations will then decide where they base themselves or where to send individual athletes to prepare and acclimatise for London 2012. 

Cllr Chris Saint, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, said: “This is great news for Warwickshire and the region as a whole. The selection of these venues puts Warwickshire firmly in the international spotlight and hopefully we will see a good take-up from teams from around the world.”

The Coventry and Warwickshire venues are:

The Alan Higgs Centre, Coventry
Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre
Draycote Water, nr Rugby
Pingles Leisure Centre, Nuneaton
Ricoh Arena, Coventry
Royal Leamington Spa Polo Club, Southam
Rugby School
Stoneleigh Park
University of Warwick, Coventry
Warwickshire College – Moreton Morrell site
Coventry University

Extensive details of the facilities will appear on a dedicated website showcasing the quality and variety of options throughout the UK which will help teams decide where to train. The national tourism agency, Visit Britain, is developing this new website with LOCOG and will bring its experience of marketing destinations and tourism products to international audiences. 
 
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is also able to offer a financial award of up to £25,000 to help encourage teams to base themselves in the UK.  LOCOG has an allocation from its privately raised budget for this process and believes this will be an incentive for teams to base themselves in the UK.

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee, said: “We said that we wanted the London Games to be for athletes, and the facilities listed in this guide will really help overseas athletes prepare well.  It also provides a great opportunity for towns throughout the UK to get involved in our plans.

“The process we have been through shows a great spread of high quality facilities throughout the UK that can be used by elite level athletes. The new website will continue to be an asset to keep an up-to-date log of the elite facilities we have across the UK.”

For more information visit http://www.london2012.com

Link to WCC