Letterkenny Sports Complex Update
May 31st, 2006
Artist’s Impression of the new Letterkenny Leisure Complex, currently under construction at Ballymacool
Earlier this week, I visited the site of the new Sports Complex, currently under construction at Sallaghagraine (beside St Eunan’s GAA Club’s O’Donnell Park). I’ve put some photos up at this page.
The Sports Complex, which should be finished construction later this year and open in January 2007, will be a huge addition to the town and is located close to the new Town Park at Ballymacool, which will go to construction later this year. It is being constructed at a cost of over €18 Million, funded in part by Letterkenny Town Council, and Government funds secured by Dr James McDaid in his time in Government.
The complex will include:
- Swimming Pool- 25m 6 lane swimming pool together with learner pool and water slide/flumes
- Fitness Suite/Gym
- Sports hall- major sports hall which also can be used as a concert facility with a seating area of 2500 people. The sports hall can also be divided into three sections which will allow 3 activities at the same time
- Full size soccer pitch , junior size soccer pitch, full size astro-pitch which can be divided by three
- Tartan running track
- Children’s play area
- Skateboard park
The facility will cater for the following activities
- Indoor soccer
- Badminton
- Basketball
- Volley Ball
- Aerobics
- Athletics
- Swimming
- Gymnastics
Letterkenny has been exceptionally lucky to secure such a fantastic facility, and it will be great to see it open. Together with the Bernard McGlinchey Town Park, and the new Park at Ballymacool, Letterkenny will have three of the finest public recreational facilities in the country.
Click any photo to enlarge
Me (left) with the other Fianna Fail councillors on Letterkenny Town Council (l-r) Jean Crossan, Victor Fisher and Ciaran Brogan
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16 Responses to “Letterkenny Sports Complex Update”
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November 7th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
[...] scussed the proposed sale of Letterkenny Leisure Centre to fund the development of the new Sports Complex at Sallaghagraine. The meeting was well attended, with appo [...]
December 14th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
is there goign to be a skatepark there??
December 15th, 2006 at 10:58 am
It wasn’t part of the initial plan (the skatepark was to be across the road at the new Town Park in Ballymacool), but it is now. As I said on this post, we’ve been granted €60,000 to put the park together, and we’re moving it onto the site of the Leisure Centre to make it more manageable, and to deliver it quicker. We’re hoping to have the Sports Centre open in March and, while the Skate Park isn’t part of the original contract, it shouldn’t be too long after until it’s open.
February 9th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
do you know anything about when they will be looking for staff?
February 25th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
i heard that there was to be an ice rink there but it is not listed above, is there going to be an ice rink in letterkenny AT ALL? i think it would be a good idea!!!:)
February 27th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Brendan,
There’s been a lot of talk about that on Highland Radio recently, but to my knowledge there is no serious plans for this. There is no provision for an ice rink at the new leisure centre, for example. I think an Ice Rink would be a great addition to the town, but would probably not have a large enough market to support it. For example, the Jet Centre in Coleraine closed a few years ago, and there’s no Ice Rink in Dublin (excluding the temporary winter ones).
Damien
February 27th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
ok… thanks for your reply… my dreams have just been shattered!:) hopefully in a few years time the market may have expanded, after all letterkenny is one of, or possibly THE, fastest growing town in europe!!! thanks again..
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:51 am
hello again,
i recently discovered that there are synthetic ice rinks!!!! i’v done a fair bit of research on it and this is a summary: basically the ice surface is made of synthetic-polymer-ethylene-resin which causes an ice like glide when skated on using normal ice-skates, when ice-skates are not worn the surface acts like a normal floor and can be used for many activitice such as , football, basketball, tennis, skatebording, roller blading, etc.
also the cost of the ‘ice’ (including installation, training, and many, many extras) costs roughly between 25,000 and 50,000 euro… with no yearly maintainance costs!!!
you simply keep the surface clean!!!
it is double sided and has a 12-15 year warranty!!
it can be used both indoor and out and works better the more its used, and wetness causes no change to the surface.(in case it rains)
i hav not looked into the cost of a building or of land for the rink but, i know that it would be by far cheaper than a ‘real’ ice rink and this could be a promising idea for letterkenny!!!
i just thaught id let you know what i found and i would like to hear you thaughts on this…
thanks,
brendan
March 3rd, 2007 at 12:53 am
Brendan,
That all sounds a bit mad, I’ve not heard of anything like that before.
Do you have any links to any details on this stuff?
Damien
March 3rd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
yes, here they are;
http://www.promoconcepts.co.uk/icemagic.html
http://www.coldproducts.com/ezglide.php
http://www.n-ice.net/eng/index.php
http://www.superglideskating.com/faqs.asp
http://www.vikingice.com/icespecs.asp
i’m sure more information can be found on google, by searching synthetic ice!
you can equire about prices on these websites to find the best price..
hope you find these links useful
p.s. the price from my previous comment was from ‘ice magic’!!! and the price was in sterling not euro, sory…i can email the pricing info to you if you’d like.
brendan, :)
June 24th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
hi there,
can u tell me when the new sports centre is actually opening for the public to start using it?? i was down a few times to join and it was all locked up??? any ideas on the membership rates?
July 5th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Hi
We are a UK based company who supply and run synthetic / artificial ice rinks.
I am interested to see that Letterkenny are thinking about having a ice rink setup.
My family are from Glencolumbkille and after the success we have had in the UK I believe this would be an extremely popular attraction to the Donegal area.
Our rinks come complete with skates, log cabin etc.
Please have a look at our website.
The link to our web address http://www.iceskating-uk.co.uk
Many thanks
Ryan McHale
iSK8
July 10th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Annmarie,
Centre is now fully open!
Damien
July 12th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
hi
does anyone know if the swimming pool is open yet
July 12th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Colin,
Pool is fully open, as of Monday passed (July 9th 2007). More detail s on opening times etc available at http://www.auraleisurecentres.ie/locations/aura-letterkenny.html
July 27th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
for Brendan
”hopefully in a few years time the market may have expanded, after all letterkenny is one of, or possibly THE, fastest growing town in europe!!!”
I think you have to travel for a while in Europe and to see many other towns more beautiful and very well organized then letterkenny and faster build.
I am not only coming from Europe in your country and to be very surprised about how grate idea have yours all about yourself in Ireland and in uk to and to see just the bad things in others country .
?????????????????