2016 Junior World Championship

The Notice of Race is to be expected early 2016. For any questions, please contact Frans Hin by e-mail: frans@sportivents.nl.

Lelystad is one of the newest cities in the Netherlands. It is the capital of Flevoland Province. The community of Lelystad is situated in the Eastern part of Flevoland. It has a surface of 295mi² (765km²), of which 17mi² (45km²) water area. The town major, since February 2006, is Ms. M. Horselenberg. It has only been a municipality since 1980.

Lelystad was intended to be the main city of the IJsselmeer polders. Therefore, the city was named after the founder of the Zuiderzee project, engineer Cornelis Lely (1854 – 1929). In 1891 Lely developed a plan for the closure of the then called Zuiderzee. In 1932 the Zuiderzee indeed was closed by means of the Afsluitdijk (closing dyke) and the IJsselmeer was created.

Construction of Lelystad actually began before the Eastern part of Flevoland was drained. In 1950, Perceel P (allotment P) was created, a working island in the midst of the IJsselmeer. The workers inhabiting that island had to create a building pit for the Wortman water pump station which was then used for draining the Eastern part of Flevoland. Perceel P, the oldest part of Lelystad, today is called Lelystad Haven.

Construction of the remaining part of the city began in 1965. And the first inhabitants arrived in September 1967. However, development of Lelystad proceeded slowly, mainly due to poor connections to the mainland which persisted for years. Another problem was a decision making process regarding the Markerwaard polder which took years to produce results. Plan was to let this polder become the urban hinterland of Lelystad.

An own identity It was mid of the nineties when a major course change took place at Lelystad. From that point on, renowned architects were attracted and involved to give the city an own identity and more confidence. Old residence quarters got restructured and the city centre was completely renewed. Also, the coastal area of Lelystad got a new impulse due to construction of high quality residence quarters and new recreational facilities there.

Picture by Wierd Massink ©.

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