True North Leisure Centre, a temperature-controlled indoor swimming pool was inaugurated in Mission Compound at the heart of the town on Saturday.
The pool, also boasts of a kids’ section is of medium depth, with the deepest end at five-and-a-half feet.
With the opening of this pool, athletes and the wider population will get a chance to recuperate from injury.
While day-users are welcome, members also have access to a purpose-built jacuzzi and sauna for relaxation. A cafeteria, run for the benefit of Providence School, is also located on the premises. The leisure centre is open from 6:30am to 10:00pm.
True North Leisure Centre is the brainchild of three people – Robinson Jyrwa, Lindsay Diengdoh and Gary Jarman Lamare, the latter is famous for being the first person from Meghalaya to scale Mt Everest –are also swimming enthusiasts and wanted to take swimming in the city to the next level.
“We had the vision for this project nine years ago, but back then the technology to heat a pool was not made domestically and we would have had to import it from abroad at great cost,” Jyrwa said on launch day. “It was only two years ago that we found a manufacturer in Chennai who made the equipment,” he added, reports TNT.
“As kids we didn’t have anyone to teach us swimming. We just went to Crinoline Falls and picked it up over time. Most swimmers in Shillong are self-taught but it’s very important that children receive proper instruction and we’re looking to partner with local schools, who are interested in making swimming part of their curriculum, for this purpose,” Jyrwa said.
After the inauguration, kids wasted no time and got into the pool to have some fun.