Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards officially opened the new Tarka Leisure Centre in Barnstaple which includes Devon’s first endless ski slope for indoor skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing.
Eddie, who became a popular celebrity after his efforts at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, cut the ribbon at a recent special opening ceremony alongside the Levelling Up Minister Neil O’Brien MP, and then headed straight for the ‘endless’ ski slope, to try it out.
Eddie said: “The endless ski slope is such a great idea. It looks a bit like a giant treadmill but for skiing and snowboarding. When I started on my Olympic dream, I was fortunate that my hometown of Cheltenham wasn’t too far from a dry ski slope.
“So, having this facility as part of an amazing new leisure centre here in Barnstaple will hopefully inspire people to give skiing and snowboarding a go, whether that’s just for fun or making a career from winter sports.”
The new centre, which brings all of the town’s leisure facilities onto one site on Seven Brethren, is being run by Lex Leisure and is owned by North Devon Council.
With the existing leisure centre at the end of its commercial life, council officers managed to find considerable funding without which the town would have been left without a swimming pool and other sporting facilities.
Categories: Club & Slope News