Cardington Artificial Slalom Course (CASC) was the first

artificial whitewater An artificial whitewater course (AWWC) is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids. Course types Main types of course: Fl ...

canoe slalom Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is one of t ...

course in the UK when it was completed in July 1982, having been first discussed in 1972. Based on the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the W ...

adjacent to Cardington sluice, within the grounds of

Priory Country Park Priory Country Park is a country park located in the Newnham area of Bedford, England alongside the River Great Ouse. The park is managed by Bedford Borough Council. The park was established after gravel extraction ended in 1977. It was offici ...

and approximately 2.5 km downstream from

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

, the course has a dual role as both a flood control structure and a whitewater course for canoe slalom training and events. The course cost £273,000 and was funded by a consortium of the

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

(now the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and en ...

Anglian Water Anglian Water is a water company that operates in the East of England. It was formed in 1989 under the partial privatisation of the water industry. It provides water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment to the area formerly the responsibility ...

, the

Sports Council Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

(now

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

) and local councils and was seen as an excellent example of the relatively low cost adaptation of a necessary structure to provide a facility of national significance. The structure consists of an automatically controlled dropleaf control sluice, 9 metres wide, at the head of a concrete-lined channel which connects the upper reach of the river to the lower. The channel is 120 m long with a bed slope of 1:100. To create the required water flow pattern, fibreglass boulders known as "hippos" and "dollies" are secured to the base of the channel. The maximum head is 1.7 m with a maximum water capacity of 15 cubic metres per second. Originally seen primarily as a training venue, the course also holds two national ranking canoe slalom competitions per year at up to Division 2 level, and is the host every year to the Inter Clubs Final, which pits teams from all the top canoe slalom clubs against each other for an overall trophy. Running all weekend with camping overnight, the Inter Clubs is the largest canoe slalom event in the UK (by number of participants), a great social event for the sport and one of the highlights of the UK slalom calendar. The course celebrated its 25th anniversary in September 2007 with a visit by

Frank Branston Frank Branston (9 May 1939 – 14 August 2009) was a journalist, novelist and newspaper proprietor, and the first elected mayors in the United Kingdom, directly elected mayor of the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Early life and ca ...

the Mayor of Bedford. The original project's vision of becoming 'a regional centre for canoeing' has come to fruition. Competition events at CASC are organised by Bedford's

Viking Kayak Club Viking Kayak Club is an open, community-based, multi-disciplinary club and is now one of the foremost canoe and kayak clubs in the UK. The club offers a broad range of paddling opportunities from easy recreational paddling to competition in cano ...

which also organises national ranking events and finals in kayak marathon. Viking celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011.

References

Beds Times & Citizen Report on 25th Anniversary event

External links

Cardington Whitewater Website

Priory Country Park (blog)

Viking Kayak Club (VKC)
{{authority control Tourist attractions in Bedfordshire Artificial whitewater courses in the United Kingdom Sports venues in Bedfordshire River Great Ouse Sports venues completed in 1982 1982 establishments in England

See also

References

External links