Storied British swimming club Plymouth Leander will soon be returning to its home pool after more than 14 months away.
After having been initially booted due to COVID-19 restrictions, the team also saw their Plymouth Life Centre home undergo a series of much-needed repairs, including walls, ceilings, fixtures, as well as new waterproofing.
On the club’s return, Plymouth Leander head coach and director of swimming at Plymouth College, Robin Armayan, said, “We are really pleased to be back at the LC. It’s been a very challenging season for all of us, but having our facility back will provide a degree of stability and consistency that’s very much necessary.”
Chairman David Ellis concurred, conveying, “We’re excited to be back at the LC and to be back in, given the investment of Plymouth City Council, what will effectively be a new pool.
“As Robin said, it’s been a challenging season but with the support of other pol providers and especially Plymouth College, we’ve managed to keep our swimmers training. The reopening of the Life Centre will enable us to provide the training program we are accustomed to providing and we can’t wait to be able to run a competition, to give our swimmers something to aim for.”
Plymouth Leander served as the training base of Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte when she won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. At the time she was coached by Jon Rudd, who has since left to take on the role of Director of High Performance at Swim Ireland.
Energy Standard’s Ben Proud also used to call the club home and was based there in the summer of 2017 when he took gold that year at the World Championships in Budapest.
