Sports for all, including the best...

Hjørring is characterised especially by its broad base of amateur sports. Almost all types of sports are represented in the municipality’s kaleidoscope of sports and leisure activities, and this is the result of several factors: Partly diversity and entrepreneurship, and partly a demand for play and bodily exercise. Not least it is tangible proof of the existence of a large number of volunteers and their tireless efforts. Organisations and societies are thriving across the entire municipality.

The leisure activities on offer range from hangliding over billiards, archery, motocross, line dancing, jiu-jitsu, cross-country running, walking, riding, angling and scouting to a wealth of other activities. For example, the role play club Quindi can muster almost 300 participants in their monthly event in the woods at Bagterp.

In the Municipality of Hjørring there are no less than sixteen sports centres, six tennis clubs, five golf courses, one badminton centre and five swimming pools.

Obviously traditional sports such as handball, badminton and football are predominant, and in fact the municipality boasts the highest number of football pitches in Denmark per citizen. However, tennis, swimming and golf are also extremely popular.

Unsurprisingly, our top athletes are primarily to be found within these sports, particularly handball in Tårs/Sindal, Vendsyssel Badminton Club, the swimming club S68 and the women’s football club Fortuna Hjørring. The latter is not only well known for its achievements in the football league but also

for staging the Dana Cup tournament, which attracts more than 20,000 young footballers from more than 40 countries worldwide in July of every year – an event that involves organisations throughout the municipality. The Dana Cup has grown bigger year by year and will be staged for the 26th time in 2007.

Health, nature and attractive leisure opportunities
In Hjørring there are both independent and municipal sports centres, and as with the organisations and societies they are spread throughout the municipality. The largest of these are the sports centres in Løkken and Hirtshals which – in addition to serving as well-equipped sports centres for the locals – have generated considerable year-round tourism. Both have benefited from their seaside locations and profited from the opportunity of combining sports activities with health, nature, culture and education. As a consequence both places attract many overnight visitors every year.

In the town of Hjørring ,an extensive and ambitious project, Hjørring Park Vendia, is being implemented; the project will strengthen both the municipality’s popular and elite sports. The objective is to create a recreational power centre for a wide range of leisure and cultural activities. Both citizens and visitors to the Municipality of Hjørring will benefit from the completion of the first stage of the project at the beginning of 2008. This will include the Hjørring Park Vendia water centre, featuring a large 50-metre pool, a wellness area, and baby and activity pools. Later stages of the project will include squash courts, a fitness room, an outdoor wellness area with hot and cold spas, petanque courts, Astroturf courts and a stadium, just as the municipal outdoor skating rink is expected to be moved to the area. In connection with Hjørring Park Vendia a multi-purpose hall for staging large sports events, concerts and theatre performances is also being planned.

Thus, organisations and societies are certainly thriving in the Municipality of Hjørring. The organisations and societies which are known and subsidised by the municipality number no less than 210, representing a total of almost 28,000 members.