Pool centre named

Queenstown’s new aquatic centre was officially named today in a joint announcement by Queenstown Lakes District Council and Lakes Leisure Limited.

“A recent competition to name our aquatic centre has been won by a local 9 year old girl,” said Queenstown Aquatic Centre general manager Cam Sheppard. “The new facility will now be known as Alpine Aqualand.”

The youngster’s submission was one of over 200 entries received from people of all ages across the district over the last three weeks.

The council and Lakes Leisure were looking for imaginative, creative ideas that would capture what the pool was all about.

“After much deliberation we selected Alpine Aqualand as we believed it represented the district and the nature of the centre with its mountain and river,” Mr Sheppard said.

“We were really overwhelmed by the great response from the community and the amount of imagination that went into some entries. A couple that deserve special mention are ‘Waka Chang Chang’ and ‘Wet Sparkles’,” he said.

The winner received a 6 month membership to the Aquatic Centre. As a show of appreciation for their participation, all other entries would receive a complimentary hydroslide pass.

With opening day only weeks away over 3,000 members of the community have been invited to special training sessions.

“We are using these sessions to help commission the centre,” Mr Sheppard said. “Invitations were sent to schools, residents associations and swimming clubs to ensure that a broad range of participants helped test the facilities and train our staff.”

The aquatic centre opens its doors to the public on Saturday, May 31, and features a fun-filled leisure pool, lazy river, two hydroslides, water features, toddlers area, adult spa pool and a 25m lap swimming pool.