“The club will get there! insists Luc Potier, president of the Aviron club d’Auray (ACA), that is to say becoming a club which implements federal policy with the priorities of recruiting young people for competition and diversifying practices”. Too bad the locals don’t follow. The place reserved for rowing is unsuitable and the projects are still not coming to fruition.
From 80 licensees to 210
In ten years, the club’s workforce has gone from 80 members to 210. But there is a problem. And it’s big. The current buildings do not allow the ACA to have such an ambition: pontoon too small, no space for physical training on land, saturated storage space… Alrean rowers are increasingly at risk. ‘tight in these premises.
And this problem has been going on for a long time. In 2018, the project to reconfigure the nautical center, which had been validated by the mayor at the time, Jean Dumoulin, was derailed after the latter’s departure. Then, in 2021, the project returned to the forefront. “At the time I heard that Afpa (Agency for Professional Training of Adults, Editor’s note) was returning to the field because the temporary occupation authorization (AOT) held by the town hall was open,” remembers the president. The club then eyed the premises that Afpa would leave vacant. But it was ultimately the Ports Company which recovered the AOT with the management of the port.
Luc Potier then jumped back into action. “We are not giving up the idea of having a place because, for me, it is the best solution,” insists the sports manager. We had to be invited to every meeting with the town hall but I went to see them and there… Benoît Le Rol (deputy delegate for sports, Editor’s note) told me that Afpa is done, without explanations.”
However, the project to reconfigure the premises seems to be moving forward. The Harbor Master wants to stay in Saint-Goustan with sanitary facilities worthy of the name. The associations also want rooms. The kayak wants to keep its premises. And rowing would like to be there too.
“According to the latest news, which dates back about a fortnight, things are progressing. There is a real desire from the town hall to move on this project. Now how far financially? », confides Luc Potier. A meeting was planned before Christmas but it will probably not take place. There is only one certainty: the municipality has entrusted the file to a consultancy firm. The tour of the entities concerned should make it possible to clarify the wishes of each one. In the meantime, the Auray Rowing Club is blocked in its development.
The saturation room
“Should we continue to have our equipment damaged, destroyed with each flood – we suffered ten in 2024 – have equipment sabotaged, poorly reimbursed by insurance companies given the storage conditions? Should we carry out physical training in the street, between cars and pedestrians? Should we no longer purchase equipment because we are at storage saturation? Should we continue to be unable to make small repairs? Should we stop recruiting new members due to lack of equipment? Should we resolve to make decision-making choices without prior consultation, without a study of needs, without a project management method, without an ounce of common sense? », asks Luc Potier. And to conclude: “If so, we have lost all the work done for ten years and more.”
Senegal
