Shillong, Jul 25: Seven years ago True North Leisure Centre set the benchmark for what swimming could and should be in Meghalaya, where the weather often gets in the way of outdoor swimming, with its gamechanging Mission Compound heated indoor swimming pool, allowing training and recreation all year round.
Now, the pioneers behind the enterprise have taken swimming up another level with its new Lapalang facility, bigger and feature-packed. The state of the art space was inaugurated by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today evening.
It features a 25 metre multi-lane pool, ranging in depth from 3 to 6 feet, training pool and kids pool. There is also a cardio track, fully-equipped gym, steam room and hot tub.
“I almost forgot I was in Shillong on entering this place,” the CM said. “The kind of quality, importance and focus on details and the quality of infrastructure shows the passion of the team running this project. It’s a great example of what we can achieve if we put our heart and soul into what we believe.”
One of the priorities for the Lapalang location is to expand True North’s swimming academy.
“You will be transforming lives through this place. You have a big responsibility in shaping the lives of young swimmers. We in the government are ready to help this become the best facility in Meghalaya and the North East,” the CM said, adding that True North can play an important role in helping Meghalaya achieve its aims at the National Games and in getting a Meghalayan athlete to a future Olympics.
The state government played a vital role in getting True North Lapalang up and running, with a large proportion of the funding provided through Meghalaya’s flagship CM ELEVATE initiative.
“This government has always been a big fan of entrepreneurship and we have always made an effort over the last seven years to work with community, entrepreneurs, religious organisations, self-help groups, etc,” Sangma said. “This model is transforming the lives of our people and entrepreneurship is at the core of what we want to do.”
One of the individuals behind True North is Gary Lamare, who wrote his name into the history books by becoming the first Meghalayan to scale Mt Everest.
The Mission Compound centre quickly became a success and could not cater to the vast number of people in the city that wanted to either learn swimming, train for competitions or just exercise and relax. Lamare said that within a year of opening, there was already a waitlist of more than 200.
The founders then centred on the Lapalang site, with its greater area, for a new expanded facility and work began apace in 2019. However, the Covid-19 pandemic the following year put the brakes on construction and “knocked the wind out of our sails.” Thanks to CM ELEVATE, True North was able to get construction back on track, with Lamare saying that the government helped resuscitate the project through its funding support.
Speaking further on the new centre, Lamare said that the vision remains for it to be a leisure and fitness centre but it will also allow True North to focus more on its swimming academy.
“When Meghalaya sends swimmers for national competitions we always go as wild cards but in the next two years we (True North) hope for our swimmers to get in on their own merit,” he said. Other priorities include training in lifesaving and lifeguarding, which is an important area given the number of hotels and resorts now building swimming pools in Meghalaya.
Other dignitaries who spoke on the occasion included the Secretary of the Lapalang Dorbar Shnong and Saloni Verma, Executive Director of the Meghalaya Basin Development Agency. A message was also conveyed by retired Chief Secretary Rebecca V Suchiang, who, like Verma, shared that she learned to swim at True North Mission Compound.
