Homegrown Olympians training ground set for £2.1M revamp

The starting gun has been fired on ambitious plans to build a £2.1M indoor training facility at one of Scotland’s largest and most successful athletics clubs.

Kilbarchan Amateur Athletics Club (AAC) is looking to secure £500K of funding from Renfrewshire Council in order to help increase participation in sport and support the achievement of sporting excellence.

Councillors at the full council meeting will vote on granting the club the cash in two tranches of £250,000 which will help pave the way to provide facilities for over 525 male and female athletes as well as the Renfrewshire community.

The Hakwins brothers are members of the club, younger brother Callum finished an impressive 9th in the marathon at the Rio Olympics last summer.

Plans have been developed, with the support of Scottish Athletics and Sport Scotland, to build an indoor athletics training centre adjacent to the outdoor track and field facilities at Linwood’s On-X sports centre.

The proposed indoor training centre would provide the club with:

-60 metre running track;

-Horizontal and vertical jumps;

-Pole vault;

-Indoor throws cage- including javelin;

-Club room;

-Strength and conditioning area

Renfrewshire Council Leader, Mark Macmillan, said: “Kilbarchan AAC are a credit to Renfrewshire and provide a fantastic platform for athletes to develop onto the elite stage.

“However, they also extremely inclusive and ensure that athletes of all ages are able to participate in the sport of their choice.

“This new facility would be a tremendous addition to Renfrewshire as we look to advance sporting opportunities for our communities and support the achievement of sporting excellence.”

Kilbarchan AAC are in the Premier Division of the Scottish Athletics league structure and its members include Olympians Callum and Derek Hawkins who represented Great Britain in the marathon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.