| Strathclyde Country Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Type | Country park |
| Location | Motherwell, United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 55°47′51″N4°01′23″W / 55.79750°N 4.02306°W |
| Area | 4km |
Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, named after the former Strathclyde region of Scotland. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy.
The park covers some 4 km2 (1+1⁄2 sq mi), centred on the artificial Strathclyde Loch. It is located next to the River Clyde between Hamilton and Motherwell. Strathclyde Park forms what used to be known as the Low Parks of the now demolished Hamilton Palace and still includes buildings associated with the palace. When the loch was created in the early 1970s it involved the flooding of the old mining village of Bothwellhaugh. [1] [2] The park offers many amenities and attractions such as coarse angling, woodland walks, watersports, and a camping and caravanning site. One of Scotland's theme parks, M&D's, is located in the park. Until 1996, the music festival T in the Park was held here.
The west side of the park is bounded by the River Clyde, which was diverted when the loch was built in 1975. The original course can be seen between the east loch shore and the island. The east side of the park is quieter, with woodland and paths leading up the slopes to Motherwell.
The remains of Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort and a Roman bathhouse can be seen in the park, where the South Calder Water flows into the loch. There is an arched Roman bridge across the South Calder nearby. The site of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge (1679) is to the north west of the park.
Although the focus of the park is on recreation, a variety of habitats are present, including wetlands and native woodland.
The Greenlink Cycle Path start-off point is located in the park and travels to Motherwell Town Centre. Also, a section of the Clyde walkway, from Glasgow to New Lanark, runs through the park.
Major events held at the loch include the rowing events for the 1986 Commonwealth Games, [3] the 1996 World Rowing Junior Championships (and the World Rowing Championships for non-Olympic events), the 2005 World Rowing Masters Regatta, the 2007 World Rowing U23 Championships the 2006 and 2014 Commonwealth Rowing Championships. [4] and the 2018 European Rowing Championships.
The loch also hosts the British Rowing Championships [5] once every four years, which are normally held in Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, and also every four years hosts the Home International Regatta.
The park is home to Strathclyde Park Rowing Club, [6] Edinburgh University Boat Club, [7] Heriot-Watt University Boat Club [8] and to the Scottish Rowing Centre, and acts as a secondary training centre for St Andrew Boat Club.
The park is home to Strathclyde Loch Sailing Club which is a Royal Yachting Association accredited sailing and powerboat training centre. [9]
The watersports events of the 2005 Glasgow Special Olympics and the 2006 Scottish Triathlon Championships were staged at the park.
Since 2005, the park has been the venue for the annual Stereofunk music festival. [10] [11] The park was also the venue for the T in the Park festival between 1994 and 1996.
In 2009 the park was used to host the first ever Great Scottish Swim, a mass participation open water swim event. The event was due to be held there again in 2010 but was cancelled due to poisonous blue-green algae in the loch.
The park was an official venue for the 2011 International Children's Games. [12]
In 2014, Strathclyde Park hosted the triathlon event of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. [13] The 2018 European Triathlon Championships were held at the Strathclyde Park as part of the multi-sport 2018 European Championships.
The park hosts a Parkrun event at 09:30 every Saturday morning. [14] It has also hosted an 'Inflatable 5k' event, popular with families and participants collecting charity donations. [15]
On the June 2012 Strathclyde Country Park was host to the Western District Open Water Swimming Championship that attracted up to 70 competitors.
Following the race 57 people were discovered to be suffering from stomach cramps, sickness and diarrhoea 5 of the 57 tested positive for norovirus. All water based activities were subsequently temporarily suspended.
Experts attributed the incident to heavy rainfall prior to the event, with council officials confirming that tests of the water quality in the days before the event within the accepted open water guidelines. [16]
The loch previously had issues with open water events affected by blue and green algae growth, resulting in the cancellation of the Great Scottish Swim in August 2010. [17] In summer 2011 algae growth also put a stop to water sports just two months before the start of the International Children's Games. [18]
Hamilton is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Glasgow, 37 miles (60 km) south-west of Edinburgh and 74 miles (120 km) north of Carlisle. It is situated on the south bank of the River Clyde at its confluence with the Avon Water. Hamilton is the county town of the historic county of Lanarkshire and is the location of the headquarters of the modern local authority of South Lanarkshire.
North Lanarkshire is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk, Stirling, South Lanarkshire, and West Lothian. The council area covers parts of the historic counties of Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and Stirlingshire. The council is based in Motherwell.
Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarkshire, Motherwell is the headquarters for North Lanarkshire Council. Geographically the River Clyde separates Motherwell from Hamilton to the west whereas the South Calder Water separates Motherwell from Carfin to the north-east and New Stevenston and Bellshill towards the north.
Scottish Rowing (SR), formerly the Scottish Amateur Rowing Association, is the governing body for the sport of rowing in Scotland. It is responsible for promoting the sport in Scotland and also for selecting crews to send to the Home International Regatta and the Commonwealth Rowing Championships. In addition, Scottish Rowing also runs three of the major regattas of the year, Strathclyde Park Regatta, the Scottish Rowing Championships and the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships.
Castle Semple Loch is a 1.5-mile-long (2.5 km) inland freshwater loch at Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Originally part of an estate of the same name, it is now administered by Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park as a watersports centre. An RSPB bird sanctuary is located on the loch's southern shore.
Sport plays an important role in the culture of Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. Association football is particularly popular: Glasgow is known for the fierce Old Firm rivalry between Scotland's most successful clubs, Celtic and Rangers. The national stadium, Hampden Park, is located in the city and stages most home matches of the Scotland national team, as well as the finals of the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) are both also based at Hampden. The world's first official international match took place in Glasgow in 1872.
The Commonwealth Rowing Championships are a regatta for rowers from Commonwealth nations held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games. Rowing is classed as an 'optional' sport for the purposes of the Commonwealth Games, but is currently not included in the Commonwealth Games programme itself. The Championships are therefore usually held immediately after or before the Games themselves in the same host city, or nearby. They are a recognised championships by the Commonwealth Games Federation, and the Federation provides the medals for the victors.
The South Calder Water, known locally as "The Cawder", or simply "Calder", is a river in Scotland. It runs west from the high plateau between Shotts and Fauldhouse to its joining with the much larger River Clyde.
The British Rowing Championships usually take place every year and are normally held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham), with occasional championships held at the Strathclyde Country Park. The championships originally incorporated Senior and Junior crews but since 2013 have been held separately. However, since 2018 the senior championships have not been held. It is a major event for club rowers and schools and events are held for open, women, open junior, women's junior, under 23, lightweight, adaptive and coastal boats.
The Glasgow bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was the successful bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games by the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It beat the Abuja 2014 Commonwealth Games bid to host the games. The event was held over 11 days, with the opening ceremony taking place on 23 July, 2014, and the last day of competition and the closing ceremony on 3 August, 2014.
Bothwellhaugh was a Scottish coal mining village, which housed Hamilton Palace Colliery workers and their families. Locals referred to the village as The Pailis, and it was located near the towns of Motherwell, Bellshill and Hamilton, in Lanarkshire. The village was occupied from the mid-1880s, until it was demolished in 1965.
The Great Swim is a national open water swimming event in the United Kingdom, which has had over 22,000 participants. The event was started in 2008 with a one-mile Great North Swim in Windermere. Taking its inspiration from the world's biggest half marathon the Great North Run, Great Swim uses the formula of mass participation events to provide a focus and a challenge for which the individual can train.
Bothwellhaugh Roman Fort is a site now located within Strathclyde Country Park in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is east of where the South Calder Water flows into Strathclyde Loch. The fort is a scheduled monument.
Strathclyde Park Rowing Club (SPRC) is a rowing club which was founded in 2000 by Iain Somerside, Karen & Peter Barton and Tom Hewitt. It is the only 'open' club based at the international rowing course at Strathclyde Country Park, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.
The Greenlink Cycle Path is a cycle path in North Lanarkshire that is a direct route running from Strathclyde Country Park to Motherwell Town Centre. The path is 7 kilometres in length. The Greenlink project was established in 2005, and was part of a 3-year partnership between many organisations, such as North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland.
This article lists the Venues of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Tilgate Lake is the biggest of three lakes at Tilgate Park, and remains a popular water activity centre and tourist attraction in Crawley, West Sussex.Tilgate Lake has a wide variety of outdoor activities open to the general public, such as archery, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, raft building, rowing, running, sailing, standup paddleboarding, Open water swimming, team building, navigational challenges, tree climbing and zip trekking.
The Triathlon competitions at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, were held in Strathclyde Country Park. The men's and women's individual events were held on Thursday 24 July and women's triathlon was the first medal event of the Games. Mixed team relay was held on Saturday 26 July for the first time ever in major multi-sport Games. Marisol Casado, ITU President and IOC member, commented: "We are delighted the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee has embraced the Triathlon Mixed Relay. Triathlon is on currently on a high in the United Kingdom, and the Mixed Relay will offer an extra opportunity for the people of Glasgow to watch another thrilling and unpredictable event live on their city streets."
The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom from 2 to 12 August 2018. Around 1,500 athletes competed at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin, whilst at the same time more than 3,000 took part in the other championships in Glasgow. Each European Championship was organised by the respective federation and host city.
