Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal inaugurates new regatta course

The site was built on a former arm of the Mondego river and has been used since 2001 for regattas, but up until now, no infrastructure was in place. Now, the eight lane rowing course boasts a full infrastructure with a large boat house with 16 boat bays, changing rooms and showers, a fully equipped finish tower, and a warming-up and cooling down canals and meeting rooms. The entire project cost 17 million Euros and has come to completion just in time for the start of the European Rowing Championships.

“What the Municipal Government, the Secretariat of State for Youth and Sport, and the organising committee have achieved here over the past two years building up this regatta course is amazing!” said Matt Smith, FISA Executive Director to representatives of the teams present in Portugal today.

Teams arriving earlier this week were able to witness the evolution on an hourly basis, as workers toiled day and night to get everything finished on time. Although some details still need to be finalised, the main aspects of the course are up and ready to welcome the first races of the 2010 European Rowing Championships tomorrow morning at 9:30 am.