11th Club Crew World Championships
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The history of the course
The Maty stream institution is currently situated in 76-hectare area out of which the water surface constitutes 40 hectares.
In 1979 the decision was made to create a multifunctional catchment basin west of Szeged, near the former river bed of the Tisza. It would serve as a base for water sports, an angler’s paradise, a recreation spot and as an inner river basin.
The almost 3 kilometres long, 120-300 metres wide and on average 3 metres deep valley was completed in three years.
The Maty stream Water Centre was opened in June 1981 and over the past thirty years it has become perhaps the most popular kayak-canoe course in the world. Due to the favourable wind conditions it is widely considered to be one of the „fairest” courses, not to mention that the Hungarian spectators are able to create a unique atmosphere during the world competitions.
Several significant developments have taken place on the course since 1981, the most recent one happened before the 2011 kayak-canoe world championship. The motel at the river bank was expanded with 10 rooms for disabled, the stand, the VIP building and the renovated finish line tower were connected with a terrace system, a new fitness room was built and six new changing rooms were created as well. The lower floors of the buildings were made disabled friendly so that the Olympic Centre of Szeged could become suitable to host the training camps and competitions of para-athletes. Furthermore, six new catamarans arrived in Szeged for the 2011 world championship thus the boat stock of the Olympic centre was expanded to nine.
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