Preparations inside Deodoro’s Canoe Slalom venue have been picking up in intensity over the past several weeks. With the lake full and pumps now operating to capacity, whitewater has been flowing regularly down the Olympic channel in anticipation of Rio 2016’s upcoming test event just one month away.
Whitewater Parks International (WPI), who designed the course and is now helping Constructor Queiroz Galvao commission the venue, has been busy this month testing pumps, calibrating flows, and adjusting obstacles to ensure that all basic hydraulic parameters fall within the Olympic technical requirements.
“We test primarily for depths and velocities”, reports Bob Campbell, WPI managing director. “Generally, we’re looking to see that both the main current and adjacent eddies are relatively stable and consistent. If there’s anywhere that’s not the case, we rearrange things to improve hydraulic behaviors. Ultimately, the ICF needs to be satisfied that the course will be challenging, safe, and fair for Olympic competition before the project can be considered complete.”
Parts of the commissioning were assisted by WPI team members from Cundall engineering, who worked closely with WPI in the design of the London 2012 courses. WPI also collaborated with Czech Technical University to construct a 1:13 scale hydraulic model of their design last year. The model was especially helpful in establishing initial placements for the course obstacles. Jara Pollert from the University was on hand for some of WPI’s commissioning tasks last week to assist with full scale measuring and calculating now that the constructed facility has water flowing through it.
The Canoe Slalom venue is one of the first newly constructed Rio 2016 tracks to be completed, joining the BMX and Mountain Bike venues as part of Deodoro’s Olympic X-Park that will offer important legacy benefits to surrounding communities. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro recently re-emphasized the City’s commitment to pursuing this legacy when he officially unveiled the venue last month.
There are still bits and pieces to attend to. A permanent support building that will be shared with BMX is still under construction and finishing touches are being applied to the technical building which houses equipment control panels and an extensive water treatment system. Landscaping, drainage, and access roads are all but complete. And with whitewater now flowing and slalom gate cabling going in this week, all the essential elements will soon be in place for hosting the test event 26-29 November when international teams will have their first exposure to the Field of Play.
