The club’s training ground, Rockliffe Park at Hurworth was this week shortlisted as one of the possible venues that could be used by an Olympic team as a training camp ahead of London 2012.

 

Southgate told the Middlesbrough Gazette in an article published today that any sportsmen or women fortunate enough to use the training ground ahead will benefit from some of the best training facilities in the country.

 

“The indoor sports hall and gymnasium are first class,” he said in an interview with the newspaper.

 

“In fact, most things that a professional sportsperson could need are here.”

 

Work is progressing on a five-star hotel and golf resort on the site, a development featuring Europe’s longest golf course which is set to open in 2009.

 

The existing Rockliffe Hall – built in 1863 and formerly home to banker Alfred Backhouse and Lord Southampton – is being transformed into a 63-bedroom hotel and relaxation spa.

 

Southgate is confident the hotel will be the final piece in the jigsaw.

 

He said: “The one thing that we’ve lacked in the immediate vicinity has been the type of hotel that is going in now right alongside the training ground.

 

“When the hotel is open that will complete a very impressive base. Everything will be in place for it to be a fabulous training venue.

 

“Rockliffe is already one of the best training grounds in the Premier League, but the additional bonus of the hotel will make it a great training camp for any sport.”

 

Southgate feels that helping to host international teams and individuals will help other parts of the country to feel part of London 2012.

 

“I think it would be great publicity for the area if we were selected by one of the Olympic teams,” he said.

 

“There is a danger that the Olympics take place in London and our area ends up not benefiting, but hopefully we get some top athletes staying in the region and we can feel that we have played a part.”

 

Middlesbrough chief executive Keith Lamb has welcomed the news that Rockcliffe has been selected for the pre-Games training guide and hailed it as a major coup for Middlesbrough Football Club.

He said: “We are naturally delighted that Rockliffe has been selected as a potential base for sportsmen and women preparing for an event as prestigious as the Olympic Games."

“Rockliffe Park is acknowledged across football as one of the best training venues in the UK, if not Europe, but this is a great accolade for the football club and the whole of the north-east.

“We will naturally do all we can to make Rockliffe as attractive a training venue as possible for those preparing for the 2012 Olympics.”

Lamb said that the training group has already been utilised by a wide range of athletes and sports stars.

He said: “Apart from being the daily training base for Middlesbrough players, the facilities at Rockliffe Park have also been utilised by the England football squad and many other professional football teams.

“Others to have made use of the facilities include rugby star Jonny Wilkinson, Grand National-winning jockey Graeme Lee and athletes such as Colin Jackson, Chris Tomlinson, Anthony Borsumato and Alison Curbishley.”

Wilkinson has made numerous visits with his Newcastle Falcons team-mates, while he also utilised Rockliffe’s impressive indoors sports hall to practice his kicking in preparation for the 2003 World Cup, when his last-minute drop-kick clinched victory over Australia in the final.

Set deep in the heart of County Durham countryside, the land for Middlesbrough's £7million training complex was purchased the club in 1997.

A state-of-the-art sports science department and gym, rehabilitation areas and massage rooms, spacious changing rooms, saunas, steam rooms and jacuzzis and a comfortable restaurant are just some of the assets to be found there.

Officially opened in October 1998, just ten months after work started, the 160-acre site also has numerous grass pitches as well as two outdoor synthetic surfaces for training in all conditions.

And when the winter months arrive the impressive sports hall offers a massive indoor playing area made from a revolutionary artificial surface called Fieldturf.

 

The full article can be read at http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2008/03/07/boro-boss-backs-olympic-training-offer-84229-20572961/.