This was taken at The Tees Barrage White Water Centre (TBIWWC)and is situated on the North bank of the River Tees located in Stockton-on-Tees, North East England. As you guessed the elevator lifts canoes and rafts back to the top of the white water course.
This is a clever idea! It's very important to have this kind of sport facilities to do a proper training, but if the machine to elevate the canoes is spectacular, lets guess the "elevator" for the water, as these canoe installations use to be of closed water circuit! endika