OKC scores the new US Rowing High Performance Center. Future olympians will train in OKC.
This is the kind of development which helps attract real tourism $$$. Crowds were estimated at 50,000 for the olympic kayaking trials last year. I've not seen crowd estimates yet, but the north bank of the Oklahoma river was packed from the Lincoln Ave. bridge to the clock tower 1/3 of a mile away for the Regatta Festival this weekend. There were over 1100 participants from about 25 different states. It was a first-class event.
"The High Performance Center is an emerging concept for USRowing, and this will be the first of its kind in the country," Merry said. "We will focus on training the next generation of world-class rowers with an emphasis on the Under-23 athlete pool. We also see a future where Oklahoma City serves as the national center for coaching education for USRowing."
http://www.usrowing.org/News_Media/PressReleases/detail.aspx?nws_lKey=604
"The Devon Boathouse will be a $10 million facility that includes more than 40,000 square feet of training, educational and boat storage space. Features of the new boathouse include extensive strength and cardiovascular conditioning facilities, an indoor rowing tank, indoor endless pool, classroom and administrative space, as well as boat storage for more than 100 rowing shells."
Good for Oklahoma, great for OKC.
Congrats OKC.
What has Tulsa government done for you lately?