5/12/03: The English institute of Sport opens in Sheffield
The new training centre probably boasts the best sporting facilites anywhere in Great Britain. A 200m indoor track with a 140m straight, state of the art gyms, an athlete regeneration area with physiotherapy, massage and strength and conditioning. It is the national centre for Judo, Badminton, Basketball and Boxing. It was officially opened with a fun multisport competition involving local school children as well as the likes of Steve Cram, Richard Caborn, Chris Tomlinson, Mick Hill and the UK Athletics 400m Squad.

The Sheffield based orienteers were invited and Helen Winskill, Jenny Whitehead and Oli Johnson were all there to sign T shirts for the school kids and mingle with the stars!

The centre will be a useful facility for the orienteers, in particular the top quality medical support, which has already helped me to overcome a back injury. Hopefully it will attract athletes from several different sports to adopt Sheffield as a training base.