Bay site nation’s best
Stormers hail quality of centre
THE newly renamed BLK Performance Centre has been labelled the best facility in Australia by Stormers team manager Chippie Solomon as his Super Rugby team prepare to take on the Queensland Reds tomorrow night.
Known as the Runaway Bay Sports Super Centre for two decades, the Queensland Government department of education-owned complex yesterday announced a sixyear naming rights partnership with apparel company BLK.
To celebrate the occasion, the Cape Town-based Stormers were on site – and were joined on the training paddock by The Southport School and Gold Coast Eagles rugby players – as the squad builds up to their visit to Suncorp Stadium.
BLK Performance Centre director Brendan Flynn said the Stormers’ presence was a sign of things to come on the elite sports front.
“This is going to attract a lot of national and international visitors to the Gold Coast,” Flynn said of the deal.
“We have 2600 members of the gym, we have 630 members of the pool, 20,000 Queensland and national schoolkids coming through. Now the next extension of that is our involvement at the elite end.”
A year on from the Commonwealth Games, Flynn said his centre will play a major role as a preparation base for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from groups who want to come here in June or July next year which is the same climate as Japan,” Flynn said.
Solomon gave every indication the Stormers will be back at the Runaway Bay venue in future, too.
“I have been doing this for about 20 years and we have had horrible facilities to train on, some with no change rooms, uneven surfaces, poor quality fields, mole holes and we have had injuries over the years,” he said. “We can’t afford to have injuries because their performance puts bums on seats.
“This centre is another level and we’re so happy to be here. This is amazing.
“This is the best ever I have had in Australia.”
The Stormers have won three of six games this season, while the Reds are 2-4.