Today, Maggie and I went to the Olympic Velodrome to see some of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup. It was a bit of a consolation prize, as, like millions of others, we have failed to get tickets for the Olympics. So this was a chance to see what it would be like, and to see the Velodrome used for its first serious competition.
Getting there was a bit of a faff, as the trains went wrong, but once we got to Stratford it was fairly straightforward. There was quite a bit of queuing, as security is airport-style, and we had to take a bus to the Velodrome once we had checked in. I don't think that this will be the case for the Games themselves, but it is necessary at the moment because of the large amount of building work still going on. The advantage of the bus is that you get a tour of the entire Olympic Park.
We only saw a couple of hours of the competition, as even the 'London Prepares' events are hot tickets, but we did see Chris Hoy and the lads qualify for the final, being just pipped to first place by the Australians; and we saw the Australian women set a new World Record in the Team Sprint. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon.
To know what's going on you need either to really understand it or to watch it on the television. But for the experience, you have to be there. We're glad we went.
Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment