Pool users ahead of expectations | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Masterton's new recreation centre has had one of two teething problems but the number of fun seekers using the complex in the first few days after its opening has heartened those who backed the project.

A hard and fast method of recording each and every user of the centre is still being determined but a count of the casual users shows that 3769 people visited the pools in the first week.

This does not include bulk users, such as Jill's Swim School customers and those who took part in swimming club events.

Likewise the count does not include those who used the gymnasium only, or the estimated 500 people who attended basketball and other events in the stadium.

Masterton's mayor Bob Francis it was too early yet to claim that a patronage pattern has developed but that the centre has "obviously been well patronised" in the first few weeks.

He said council officers have had great feedback and he is confident the most pessimistic projected patronage figure for the first year of 90,000 users will be well and truly exceeded.

" We will be well in excess of that ? more like 140,000 or 150,000," he said.

It is believed Masterton District councillors have a wager on the popularity of the pools in the first year with a bottle of whisky at stake.

Teething problems have included a slippery area near the front entrance to the pools, claims the hydroslide is too slow and that the air temperature inside the complex is too warm.

Assets and Operations manager Kevin Montgomerie said it is a matter of getting everything in balance.

Cooling the air down could result in a draw off of heat from the water, making the pools cooler.

The slippery area, in the foyer, was being managed by stopping people with wet feet from going onto it.

Councillor Jonathan Hooker suggested the hydroslide speed could be improved by either issuing mats for users to lie on as they descended the slide or by increasing the water volume.