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By David Pritchard
Pentathlon GB are planning to set up a permanent presence at Medway Park after the venue successfully staged a World Cup series event last weekend.
The four-day competition was the first test for the £11 million facility, which was completed last month. The feedback from the international teams was very positive, with Dr Klaus Schormann, president of the International Union of Modern Pentathlon (UIPM), describing it as a “special destination” during his closing speech last Sunday.
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB’s performance director, was delighted with the event and received glowing compliments from many of his counterparts.
“I’d like to say the organisation has been immaculate and has been recognised by all the international athletes and coaches,” he said. “In a way I think it actually superseded last year’s Crystal Palace World Championships.
“I was approached by a number of colleagues from other countries who were very complimentary. They were actually saying that this is like an Olympic set-up, that’s how high they rate it and how all of us feel about it.”
Pentathlon GB are now hoping to stage a junior international event at Medway Park next year as a result of last weekend’s successes.
The ties are set to be further strengthened with a development centre established at the venue within the next 12 months. Under the plans, fencing and shooting facilities would be set up and a full-time development officer provided to run the programme.
Dominic Mahony, Pentathlon GB team leader, believes once in place it would boost the sport’s profile across the county.
He said: “There were three athletes from Kent in the World Cup and once we have the centre up and running there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more.
“There’s lots of knowledge here within the set-up about what pentathlon is, which is fantastic. We’ll provide the coaching support and the technical input and let’s hope there are lots of Medway kids coming through in the future. It’s planned for this year, but certainly within the next 12 months.”
Robin Cooper, director of regeneration at Medway council, was very pleased with the World Cup, which formally opened Medway Park. He is looking to build on the success with bigger events in the future and is keen on the modern pentathlon development centre.
He said: “We’ve shown you can have horse riding in the middle, we’ve shown we can have pistol shooting here safely, so if we can develop some of these as full-time sports we’d be really happy to look at it.
“The hall takes 12 badminton courts so in terms of having a major event and having seating around it, something like a boxing match, we could have 2-3,000 people sitting in there. We’re looking for any ideas at the moment, but the potential is enormous.”
POSTED: 19/04/2010 08:00:00