MAYOR Mark Harris says Ballarat City Council is to blame for the state of the Lake Wendouree course for the national canoeing championships last weekend.
And he’s been forced to reassure organisers of the centenary Head of the Lake on March 4 that the lake will be up to scratch.
Australian Canoeing slammed Lake Wendouree’s course for the pre-Olympic qualifying event — the first major all-water event since the lake has refilled.
Th e sporting group said weeds and a crooked course layout were not acceptable for a national event.
Cr Harris yesterday said Ballarat City Council took full responsibility for the course’s state.
“We have lost some expertise in the management of this sort of event,” Cr Harris said.
“There were a couple of high wind days in the lead-up, and our staff had done all they could, but the course was nowhere near what it should have been.
“We didn’t get it up to scratch and Australian Canoeing were very unhappy about it and we take full responsibility for it.”
Australian Canoeing’s national performance director Richard Fox said Ballarat City Council would need to make major reassurances about the course’s state before any further canoeing events were held on it.
“There were concerns,” Mr Fox said.
“Officials from Australian Canoeing raised these with the council and competitors raised concerns too.
“It didn’t really meet the standard of a national level of competition. We were really committed to it (a Ballarat venue) but it didn’t meet the expectations we had.
“It takes a bit of time to get it right and the council ran out of time.”
Mr Fox said the course lanes for the Sprint Series GP2 event were not set straight and weeds were a particular problem for competitors.
However, he also praised Ballarat as a venue — particularly for its accommodation and accessibility — and said there had been a lot of support for the regatta.
“It’s fair to say we will evaluate holding future events in Ballarat but we would need to get some reassurances from the council.
“You would like to think they would review it and be looking to say ‘yes, we can fix all those things’.”
Australian Canoeing’s criticisms have also raised concerns Lake Wendouree may not be ready for the 100th Head of the Lake regatta on March 4.
But Ballarat Associated Schools executive officer Sharyn Canny said the five schools involved had met with the council this week.
“We were reassured any problems would be dealt with,” Ms Canny said.
Cr Harris said there were a lot of community concerns about Head of the Lake. But he said the event was “completely safe” in Ballarat.
“The progress with the schools has been great. We will be judged harshly if it doesn’t happen,” Cr Harris said.
Geelong Rowing Association yesterday confirmed the Barwon River was still “tentatively” booked in case an alternate venue was needed. However, a spokesman said it was not expected the event would be held in Geelong.
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