Most of you will now be aware that we have been working on the establishment of a large storage building at the Geelong Canoe Club site, adjacent to where we start our Balyang 8km Sealed race. This building stands alone from the main Canoe Club building. The Canoe Club invited the Geelong Cross Country Club to be involved, so that’s where it started.
This project was initiated mainly to find a secure storage site for our club van, our travelling clubrooms. Whilst we will still have access to the “old” clubrooms near the Moorabool Street bridge, the Geelong Canoe Club site has given us the opportunity of calling somewhere “home” for the first time. We now have the locked storage area for the van and our gear, but more importantly we now have ready access to a redeveloped building (around $500,000 has been spent on the Canoe Club building) where we can hold our social functions, conduct Committee Meetings, use showers, toilets etc. We can also use it for any pre and post race gatherings, much in the same way as we have done at other venues.
The Committee is pleased that the storage building has come in well under the estimated budget figure. As we have now established a presence on this site that is currently leased by the Geelong Canoe Club from the “Crown”, and have the use of an upgraded facility, we have also made a cash contribution to the Canoe Club towards the enjoyment of a largely new building with all the facilities that we need. We will also pay an annual rental to be able to maintain our use of the site.
All in all, a very pleasing result. As with the other clubrooms near the Moorabool Street bridge, we will only have limited access (only a few will have access code, key etc). However as we are now enjoying the co-tenancy of a site with the Canoe Club, we have the opportunity of cross-pollinating! Well, we can join the Canoe Club and vice versa…..one very handy benefit is that the Canoe Club has established a gym through Revolutions Fitness Studio….fully equipped with qualified instructor. We will have access to this except that (under current ruling) we will need to have a Canoe Club membership to use the gym – the cheapest membership is a $50 Social Membership. Once you take this out, you have use of the gym for only $5.50 per week, the cheapest in town. If you are interested in exploring this further, please feel free to contact the gym owner Luke Haines on 0410 554 526 or email [email protected]. If you decide to join up, Luke will arrange access separately.
We will be conducting at least 2 runs from the new site this season, the 8km Sealed and the reintroduced 10km Balyang Handicap race. We will organise a club official opening and open day on one of these days (5th June or 26th June).
