My Olympics

I am tired and emotional. Not because of the hours of training that I have been putting in over the last fortnight but because the Olympics is over. Added to that I had to go into work this morning and the world did seem a good deal more monochrome than it was just a few days ago. I have had a great Olympics and I have probably managed to see more events than most. I try to be optimistic but I do have a tendency to lapse into pessimism and like many people I was holding my breath during the opening ceremony and asking if we, as a nation, could pull it off and show the world how well we could do things. The answer was an emphatic 'yes.' I know that it has been said many times but there are a few things that really made this games from my perspective.

The Gamesmakers. They were so positive, friendly and helpful. I did not see one Gamesmaker copping a strop or not being bothered to help. Their friendly enthusiasm was the heartbeat of the Games in my opinion. My one BIG regret is that I did not volunteer myself. Next time.  ;-)

The Army and Police. They got so involved with the spectators and were so professional and efficient, as you would expect, but I think that this was a massive PR boost for them. In all the venues that we went to we were through security and into the venue within minutes. I for one, felt significantly more reassured knowing that they were responsible for our safety.

The Transport System. This was obviously going to come under major scrutiny during the Games, but what a success. Everything had been thought through, from the website, signage en route, shuttle buses, gamesmakers to point you in the right direction. It was a complete triumph. I'm sure that it also had a lot to do with people staying at home and working, companies doing night deliveries etc to alleviate the congestion but even so, the tube and rail system was very slick and added to the Olympic experience. It had other benefits; it encouraged people to talk to one another, have some banter and get along. Exactly what should happen during an event like this.

So we had gone to the time trial and road races on the first weekend, but what about after that? Well, the next week was pretty much spent either on the sofa in tears as we won more medals (I am getting very soft in my old age) or on my bike getting some fitness back. More on that in a bit.

The Olympic Stadium

I had applied for but not been allocated any athletics tickets in the first ballot, but as the Games approached I spent more and more time on the ticket website to try to get something. I could see that the ticket allocations were changing hourly at one point and my perseverence paid off. With 10 days to go until the opening ceremony, up popped 2 tickets at a reasonable price for the morning athletics session, the day after the 100 metres final. We would get to see the qualifying for the women's 1500 metres and men's 800 metres as well as the men's discus and women's shot. We ended up staying on in the evening to watch the action in the Park Live site. We finished off by staying until late watching the Men's 400 metres Hurdles and flat races. The food and drink was pricey but no more so than you would find at other live events. The park was heaving as I believe it was one of the few days when the athletics, swimming and cycling was on.

Zak Purchase and Mark Hunter at the Park Live site.

A stunning Stadium.

Sprint Canoeing at Eton Dorney

These were the tickets that I had been allocated during the ballot. Up until a week before there were still plenty of tickets available for this event and mum and dad had been able to get some for the same session a few months before which meant that we were able to travel up together. Again, the transport was really well organised with a fast train taking us to Windsor and then dozens of shuttle buses transferring us to Windsor racecourse where we had a 20 minute walk to the venue. It was  very hot day, probably the hottest of the fortnight.



Packed stands at Eton Dorney




The noisiest supporters



 On the day we were there we saw the 200 metres heats, which were obviously very short events but we were well placed being right on the start line and opposite the big screen so that we could watch the entire race. As usual the loudest cheers were reserved for the GB paddlers (Mckeever, Schofield and Heath and Jess Walker) and the underdogs. There was one C1 paddler from Uganda who really struggled docking his canoe into the start gate who looked quite wobbly and was dead last in both his heats. He got the loudest cheer when he eventually crossed the finish line. They padded out the event with loud music and entertainment between the races including the bongo-cam which appealed to my childish sense of humour. It was a really great event and it was good to see a future GB gold medallist in action. My one and only criticism was that the first heats did not have any form of elimination so all six paddlers went through which meant that a few paddlers didn't try very hard and it seemed merely a warm up, although to be fair Ed Mckeever set an Olympic record in the first round which if I recall correctly was not broken for the rest of the meet.



Heath and Schofield (5) first round on their way to a Bronze medal



Muppets

Women's Mountain Bike Race- Hadleigh Farm, Essex
It was Wheezy Junior who got us into this event, as his Primary School had applied for and been given 9 tickets for it. They had held a writing competition amoungst the pupils in order to win a place which Wheezy Junior had won. Great, but his PE teacher who was taking them needed another adult to take the group as no other members of staff apparently wanted to go. It just so happens that her son had just done this year's Outlaw Triathlon and Wheezy Junior had told her that I had done the odd triathlon or two which we had chatted about, and being a teacher myself and CRB checked etc, she asked if I would like to help take the kids. I thought about it for about a nano-second before saying that I would love to. Again, the trip up was very easy, going through London on the District Line before catching a train to Leigh-on-Sea from Fenchurch Street and then catching a shuttle bus to Hadleigh Farm. The weather was gorgeous and the view from Hadleigh Farm across the Thames Esturary was breathtaking. The nice thing was that the train stopped at West Ham Station and passed by the Olympic Park so there was a really good feeling of connection to the main Olympic site which the kids absolutely loved.

If I am honest I don't think I was expecting very much. A farm in Essex? It hardly conjours up images of the Olympic ideal, but again, I could not have been more wrong. The whole site was amazing with great views and the course had lots of different elements that spectators could watch the riders tackle. There was a big screen in to watch the race develop although we did not need to use it as the great thing about the race was how close we got to the riders and by standing at some of the more technical or uphill sections you got a great view of them. One of our children managed to retrieve a bidon which had been discarded by a Swiss rider. It made his day. We moved around every lap to a different viewpoint and the kids loved taking photographs of the riders and cheering them all on. At the end of the race we watched the medal ceremony take place followed by a parachute drop by the RAF Falcons. A great end to a perfect day.



A stunning day at Hadleigh Farm



Annie Last on her last lap (see what I did there?)



Some of the back markers had to dismount for the more technical sections at the end. It was a tough course.



The medal ceremony




Julie Bresett on her way to the Gold Medal.



Inspiring a Generation?

This has been the well publicised strap line to these Olympics. It seems to have worked, at the moment at least. Wheezy Junior wants an aero-helmet (seriously) and wants to join Kingston Phoenix with me on the proviso that I buy him an expensive road bike. At the pool this weekend, the day after Tom Daley won his bronze medal, there must have been 30 kids either throwing themselves off of the 3 metre high board (including Wheezy Junior for the first time) and diving into the deep end of the pool. On my ride last weekend, as I made my way up Boxhill for the umpteenth time I was greeted by a sight I had not seen before. It was raining and there were 10 or so riders huddling under trees to take shelter. You don't see this often; if it's raining you're going to get wet and most riders just crack on. I guess these guys were relatively new to the sport, maybe encouraged to ride by the Wiggo effect. I think that's great and I hope that it is not a temporary effect but a genuine change in approach. Hopefully, some of them will find their way into a club or riding group. The trick is going to be to get those people who have not had a previously good experience of sport, single parents who might struggle to find time, the disadvanaged, the unemployed. How do we find a way to help those people and their children enjoy sport in the future? That will be the real challenge.

The Olympics are coming to town

I absolutely love the Olympics. It's probably the event that has kept me interested in sport all these years. It's no coincidence that at the same time that Coe and Ovett were thrashing it out around the race tracks of the world was also the first time my dad took me down to Ranelagh Harriers to begin running. I wasn't very good, although I flirted with mid-pack mediocrity for a while. However, I had a poster of Seb Coe on my bedroom wall and wanted to be an 800 metre runner like him. The important thing was I enjoyed running, I enjoyed spinning round Richmond Park with the adult and junior members of the club and I enjoyed the racing. That experience set me up for life and I still enjoy all of those things which have helped me to enjoy a heatlthy and active lifestyle. I have Seb Coe and more importantly, my Dad to thank for that.

The Olympics have always been 'another world' kind of experience, just coming through my television set showing seemingly imposible feats of athletic endeavour and endurance from an exotic foreign location. I remember faintly the 1980 Moscow Olympics but it was as a 13 year old watching the LA games that remain vividly in my mind, and they will always be covered with a Spandau Ballet soundtrack.

As well as Coe, Cram, Ovett and Thompson there are many other names that remain indelibly etched on my mind; Mary-Lou Retton, Malcolm Cooper, Mary Decker, Ed Moses, Carl Lewis, Zola Budd, Tessa Sanderson. (How can anyone forget Mitch Gaylord III, inventor of 'The Gaylord'? Your avergae 13 year old boy would remember that one fairly easily). The list goes on.

But now, 'The greatest show on Earth' is in my backyard, literally in my backyard, and I can't quite get my head around it. My one hour bike loop from my house, which I have been riding regulalry for the last 4 or 5 years takes in about 10 kilometers on the men's and women's time trial course as well as a couple of kilometres of the road race. I went out for a gentle spin last might after doing a lumpy 60 miles on Sunday and more barriers, signage and Olympic stuff is going up everytime. Speaking of that 60 miles, I went out with Simon and we hit most of the hills in Surrey, which the road race will be going nowhere near, but we finished off with our usual climb up Boxhill. Even on a busy Sunday I would probably see no more than 2 or 3 other riders, but on this morning it was mental. The Olympics and the Wiggins effect are really kicking in and as we climbed there must have been 40-50 riders going up with us with that again at the top having a coffee. There was even another bloke on a Van Nic. It was really good to see.

The next day I took Wheezy Junior to Boxhill to have a look. We parked at the bottom near Ryker's cafe and walked up to the top and had a look at the Olympic rings. It's hard to believe that during this weekend millions of people will be watching this little patch of Surrey that I know so well from working nearby, commuting to and from and living in. All through Cobham, Oxshott and Esher they've been sprucing, tidying and painting in preparation for the world to descend. It's not exactly an untidy place anyway but the effort that's gone into putting on a good event is plain to see.



Decorated bicycles along the road and tt routes



Wheezy junior on top of Box Hill.

The next day, we had the Torch relay go past the end of or road. It was started by James Cracknell, a former Kingston Grammar schoolboy and where he started his rowing career. Thousands of people turned out to watch it go past and got the area buzzing.



We made an Olympic day of it, so after watching the torch go through we hopped onto the bus to see Wenlock the mascot in John Lewis. I've never quite understood thewhole mascot thing until now. Yes, you can argue it's just a method of commercialisation to help sell merchandise but I have to say that it's really helped my two understand a bit more about the Olympics. We bought them a cuddly Wenlock and Mandeville and the checkout lady stated  "What funny looking aliens."  This prompted little wheezy to then give her a long lecture on who they were and why they were called Wenlock and Mandeville. Not bad for a 6 year old.

We've been lucky enough to get tickets to a few events as well as watching the road races and time trials. Already, Wheezy Junior has stated thst he wants 'a proper racing bike like Bradley Wiggins'. That's fine. As long as I can borrow it now and again.