Dundalk FC duo Daryl Horgan and Ciaran O’Connor at the launch of DKIT Sport yesterday with manager Kelly Gaffney and DKIT president Denis Cummins
DKIT Sport officially opened its doors to the public for the first time yesterday.
Formally ‘JJB’, DKIT Sport was purchased in early 2014 for a cost of €3million. The facility will be managed by the Holohan Leisure Group and is located adjacent to the 90-acre DKIT campus at Dundalk Retail Park.
The state of the art sports facility boasts a 20 metre swimming pool, changing rooms, jacuzzi, steam room, gym area, an aerobic studio, 1 indoor cycling studio, 10 indoor sports pitches and a dedicated high performance strength and conditioning training zone. The high performance, strength and conditioning zone is specifically designed for increased team performance and is the first of its kind in Co Louth.
The gym itself includes the latest, brand new, gold standard,’Precor’ gym equipment. The indoor sports pitches will be available not only to students and staff, but to local sports teams, clubs and the public for recreational purposes. There will be catering facilities also.
The acquisition of DKIT Sport forms part of the development of a comprehensive Sports Strategy by DKIT that includes the Centre of Sport, Exercise and Health with the Institute now offering a range of sports related courses such as BA in Sport, Exercise and Enterprise, BA (Hons.) in Community Sports Leadership and B.Sc. (Hons) in Health and Physical Activity.
Members of Dundalk FC were amongst those who attended yesterday’s launch, as well as Dundalk IT president Denis Cummins, who said it was a “great day for Dundalk Institute of Technology and Dundalk as a town”.
He said: “Today is the soft opening of the new DKIT Sport and we will do another official launch in September or October when all of the students are back.
“We are now open to the public and have grown to over 600 (public) members over the last couple of days as well as the 5,000 students all being members too so it’s a great day for everyone to be involved in.
“We have all worked really very hard over the last year to get to this point and it is brilliant to see this wonderful facility back in business. We have 20 staff employed at the moment and that will increase as the numbers continue to grow.”
Further details can be found at www.dkitsport.ie
