15 July 2012

48 minutes for the Olympic 7 Mile Road Race

Yes - as the games are in the UK this year ALL the events will be in Imperial Units.  None of your French 'powers of ten' rubbish - so I got an entry in the Seven Mile Race at the original Modern Olympics - where Baron Pierre came to find out exactly how to do it all:

"...The first meeting was held at Wenlock racecourse on 22-23 October 1850.  In 1861 after several years of work by Brookes and his colleagues the Shropshire Olympic Games were introduced. The first national Olympic Games were held in London in 1866 and were organised by the National Olympic Association which had been cofounded by Brookes in 1865. The National Olympic Association ceased its operations in 1883.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited the Olympian Society in 1890, which held a special festival in his honour. He was inspired by Dr Brookes and went on to establish the International Olympic Committee. The current series has received official recognition from the IOC and the British Olympic Association (BOA)." - source: Wikipedia

As well as the expected athletics, swimming, fencing, archery etc. these games also have cricket, gliding, golf, long distance walking and biathlon.  I ran the road race...


Looks like I am in the right place
The crown eats ice cream while waiting for the grand parade - there is one policeman on duty to hold back the traffic.  G4S nowhere in evidence.
"This modern day revival of the original procession of athletes from the early Wenlock Olympian Games will be led by a Herald and a white pony"
Massed bands of the CCF
Junior Girls 100m






I saw #88 with a medal - so I took a photo - it turns out that everyone gets at least on medal

Fencing - accompanied by the sound of 1000 crickets (I think it was something to do with the hit-sensing-system).

There is shot putt and later "throwing the cricket ball"



My nephews spend all their time playing cricket - with other blokes - frankly if I was a hormone charged male teenager then it would be athletics for me...


...only - please note - no access for riff-raff

A medal winner.  There were several TV crews covering the event and I had a nice chat with a camera team from South Korea about the 14th ARDF World Championships in Hwaseong
Yes I did carry a map all the way round - it was a hilly course and those road runners had no clue what was coming next - there were several long climbs and a nasty little incline right at the end and I used my foreknowledge to strategic advantage.  Everyone gets a bag of sweeties, made by Cadbury and were very welcome having missed lunch.




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