Hockey player Cammy Golden in training at Dundee’s £32m Regional Performance Centre. It is hoped the next generation of sporting heroes will be created at the new hub in Caird Park.

Facilities hailed as best Dundee could have hoped for

A new generation of Tayside sporting heroes will be created as a result of the opening of Dundee’s £32 million Regional Performance Centre (RPC), it has been claimed.

The Caird Park centre features indoor and outdoor 3G pitches, an indoor athletics centre, games hall and a fitness suite that has room for a rugby team.

Dundee United and Dundee FC are already using the centre for training, while Abertay University also uses it for a number of sports.

Ross Mcguire, performance and strategy manager for Leisure and Culture Dundee, said the centre will bridge the gap between those involved in organised sports and elite athletes.

He said: “This is the best we could possibly hope for in Dundee. It’s what’s been needed for a long time. There’s no excuses now – we will produce performance athletes from here.”

He added: “You can enter sport here and go from participation base to Olympic level.

“I think we’ll see top level athletes emerge in three, four five years.

“In the long term we hope youngsters seeing this will be world champion in 10 or 15 years but it is for people now, not just the future.”

Stewart Murdoch, executive director of Leisure and Culture Dundee, said the facilities on offer in the performance centre are a match for those anywhere else in the UK.

He praised Dundee City SNP MSP Shona Robison for helping to deliver the centre after Dundee lost its bid to become home to Scotland’s national performance centre for sport.

As well as the indoor football pitch, there is an outdoor 3G rugby pitch, plus an indoor athletics centre with 80-metre running straight, providing all-weather training facilities for athletes.

The existing athletics track at Caird Park has been resurfaced and a covered spectator area will be added, while the velodrome has also been upgraded.

Funding came from Dundee City Council, Sportsscotland and the European Regional Development Fund.

Sportscotland chief operating officer Forbes Dunlop said: “I think we’ve got a fantastic place and a fantastic opportunity for the people of Dundee and wider to develop their sport.”

Picture: Steve Brown.

Pictures: Steve Brown. Clockwise, from top: Hockey player Cammy Golden in training under the watchful eye of physical preparation coach Luke Birmingham; Stewart Murdoch, Forbes Dunlop, RPC manager Allison Reid and Sinclair Aitken at the new indoor football pitches; Allison Reid and Ross Mcguire; the outdoor pitches; some of the equipment.