Olympic trials pools coming to Chesterfield
Poseidon Swimming will have pools shipped from Nebraska to club's new home.
By JOE MACENKA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
A false start and some good geographical luck helped produce an Olympian payoff for Poseidon Swimming Foundation. The foundation yesterday said it has obtained the pools it needs for its new aquatics center in Chesterfield County - by purchasing the two pools that will be used during the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, NE. The trials, which start June 29, will determine which U.S. swimmers advance to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Games. Poseidon officials view it as no small feat that they were able to land the pools used in the trials.
The pools come from Myrtha Pools USA, which is known for making pools that are fast because their design minimizes turbulence. The company boasts that 29 world records have been set in Myrtha products since 2004. Myrtha's reputation helped fuel considerable competition for the trial pools. Officials from Omaha and swimming clubs across the United States expressed interest. "I'll bet you we had 100 or more very interested parties," said Kevin McGrath, chief executive of Myrtha Pools USA. But Poseidon had two factors in its favor. First, the club had previously signed a deal with Myrtha to provide pools for an aquatics center on Midlothian Turnpike, but Poseidon backed off those plans in favor of a possible facility in Richmond along North Boulevard. The foundation ultimately settled on another location, a 34- acre site at Chippenham Parkway and Iron Bridge Road that Poseidon is developing jointly with the Richmond Kickers Youth Soccer Club. And second, Myrtha Pools is looking to expand its presence in the mid-Atlantic region. The Sarasota, Fla., company has no competition pools between Delaware and Georgia. "For the swimmers in this area to have an opportunity to swim in a pool like this is tremendous," said Mary C. Doswell, Poseidon Foundation president. Poseidon's purchase price for the two trials pools, which are made of stainless steel and PVC, was not disclosed. "They won the lottery with a little bit of help," said McGrath, who added that Poseidon's plans for its aquatics center helped make Myrtha's decision easier. "This will be a marquee venue for not only us but for Poseidon and the whole area." Once the trials end, the pools will be disassembled, packed in crates and shipped in perhaps as many as six tractor-trailer loads to Chesterfield. They will be resassembled as a 50-meter competition pool, a 25-meter warmup pool and a small physical therapy pool. The site has three soccer fields, but it will be expanded to include the aquatics center with seating for more than 850 people, four lighted turf soccer fields and two lighted natural-grass fields. Doswell said the aquatics center, with the competition pool was its crown jewel, should take seven months to construct and be open sometime in 2009. "It's the kind of pool, " she said, "that swimmers want to swim in."
Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or jmacenka@timesdispatch.com
