I've always followed motorsport & I've always been interested in cycling.
In 2001 former F1 driver & previous 2x Indycar Champion Alex Zanardi's car was t-boned during a race & his legs were ripped-off - one above & one below the knee. His subsequent recovery & determination (along with Lance Armstrong) were a massive inspiration to me 2 years later when I found myself in a spinal rehab unit.
He's just won a gold medal in the hand-cycling at Brands Hatch. I'm currently sat at my desk at work welling up.
booked a session for 7 a side footie yesterday at the Riverbank, Brazil 1-1 Ukraine and GB 4-0 USA. nice surprise that GB were playing and the noise from the crowd whenever we got near the goal was great. these boys (all of the countries) are good as well, possession football mixed with proper physicality.
day pass allowed us to see Goalball which my lad loved and the Wheelchair Tennis.
park is great, buildings are great, whole day out was fantastic.
jacket spud, cheese and beans=£7.20 (cough, cough).
Watched last night and found myself getting very emotional with admiration watching the ladies 200m race for athletes with cerebral palsy. I know we should treat these fine athletes as we do able bodied runners but I was so affected by the fact that they obviously find running more difficult than the rest of us but they give it everything and clock better times than I know I could. Sorry if this sounds a bit un-PC but my admiration is boundless.
Loved it yesterday, went in and walked around via the basketball arena to see if we could get into Wheelchair Rugby but it was full so we went to Eton Manor for the Final of the mens doubles wheelchair tennis, which was fabulous! USA v GB. GB lost the first set 6-3 but then came back to win the second set but sadly lost the 3rd set. they were devastated. Loved it - but loads of empty seats. shame. Great atmosphere though, lots of chanting and geeing up of the players by the crowd.
We then went over to the Copper Box which is a brilliant arena - can so see it being used for music, dance, comedy, sport events over time. Sadly more than half empty for the first game of our session of Men's Quarter Finals of Goalball, which was between China and Lithuania which finished 12-8 to Lithuania I think - great game! You have to be quiet, but then cheer widly when they score, and they celebrate well! After this game the crowd cleared out and a few people came back in but I'd say less than a 3rd full. The second game was between Brazil and Belgium, and there was a brazilian player that in the warm up was practiciing his technique of throwing the ball between his legs backwards! sadly he didn't come off the subs bench and get to display the success of this method! The game finished with a Brazilian win and quite quickly so there was a 45 minute gap before the 3rd and final game of the quarter finals.
I was disappointed that they didn't pump any other sport action into the stadium so we watched the heats of the Mens T44 100m on my iphone.
The final game was Finland v Iran. The Finnish fellas were doubles of Lars Ullrich and were a bit crazy, randomly jumping around when they scored. We'd moved a bit so we were closer to the action. It was gone 9pm and there were so many empty seats I took a pic of them. such a shame. I guess you can't make people buy tickets for something and then actually attend it, and I accept it may not be for everyone, but still disappointing.
Sadly dont think we'll manage to get any more tickets for anything else before the weekend but Im very pleased with what I've managed to go to. It's been brilliant. Major highlight were the brass band on the colourful spongy surface outside the staidum playing 'we're the kids in america' creating a dance floor and 200 people doing the conga on their way out of the stadium to proclaimers '500 miles'. If I can work out how to upload the video I will.
anyone just get an email about their tickets for 7 a side football on the 9th and how you can't access certain gates? We haven't got any tickets for that but logged into my account and it is experiencing a 'busy period' probably everyone that just got an email telling them that they have tickets for an event that they didn't know they have! they sent another email out by mistake last week.
How great was that peacock atmosphere unreal blew me away the way the fans were chanting peacock peacock peacock
Tonight was just immense i was fortunate to work many venues during the olympics and i thought eton dorney could not be beat but my word that was the best tonight bar none
How great was that peacock atmosphere unreal blew me away the way the fans were chanting peacock peacock peacock
Tonight was just immense i was fortunate to work many venues during the olympics and i thought eton dorney could not be beat but my word that was the best tonight bar none
come through loud and clear on me telly, you lucky bugger... me, jealous?
Mate the noise all night was great and when weir went into a lead on the final bend right infront of us (we were about 30 meters along from that corner) the place went nuts i never thought i would hear louder away from a football ground
But peacock on that 100 mtrs ripped it and to be on the same side as the 100 mtrs and we were 8 rows from the front you just got absorbed in the atmosphere
Will live with me forever and to have been there with my son wow just wow
Comments
In 2001 former F1 driver & previous 2x Indycar Champion Alex Zanardi's car was t-boned during a race & his legs were ripped-off - one above & one below the knee. His subsequent recovery & determination (along with Lance Armstrong) were a massive inspiration to me 2 years later when I found myself in a spinal rehab unit.
He's just won a gold medal in the hand-cycling at Brands Hatch. I'm currently sat at my desk at work welling up.
That is not for pussies, disabled or not they are nails the blokes and girl who played today are hard people.
Goal ball not the best spectator sport but suitably tense and very skilfully done by the competitors.
day pass allowed us to see Goalball which my lad loved and the Wheelchair Tennis.
park is great, buildings are great, whole day out was fantastic.
jacket spud, cheese and beans=£7.20 (cough, cough).
We then went over to the Copper Box which is a brilliant arena - can so see it being used for music, dance, comedy, sport events over time. Sadly more than half empty for the first game of our session of Men's Quarter Finals of Goalball, which was between China and Lithuania which finished 12-8 to Lithuania I think - great game! You have to be quiet, but then cheer widly when they score, and they celebrate well! After this game the crowd cleared out and a few people came back in but I'd say less than a 3rd full. The second game was between Brazil and Belgium, and there was a brazilian player that in the warm up was practiciing his technique of throwing the ball between his legs backwards! sadly he didn't come off the subs bench and get to display the success of this method! The game finished with a Brazilian win and quite quickly so there was a 45 minute gap before the 3rd and final game of the quarter finals.
I was disappointed that they didn't pump any other sport action into the stadium so we watched the heats of the Mens T44 100m on my iphone.
The final game was Finland v Iran. The Finnish fellas were doubles of Lars Ullrich and were a bit crazy, randomly jumping around when they scored. We'd moved a bit so we were closer to the action. It was gone 9pm and there were so many empty seats I took a pic of them. such a shame. I guess you can't make people buy tickets for something and then actually attend it, and I accept it may not be for everyone, but still disappointing.
Sadly dont think we'll manage to get any more tickets for anything else before the weekend but Im very pleased with what I've managed to go to. It's been brilliant. Major highlight were the brass band on the colourful spongy surface outside the staidum playing 'we're the kids in america' creating a dance floor and 200 people doing the conga on their way out of the stadium to proclaimers '500 miles'. If I can work out how to upload the video I will.
What an athlete
We watched the heats last night and was amazed
Go team GB
Tonight was just immense i was fortunate to work many venues during the olympics and i thought eton dorney could not be beat but my word that was the best tonight bar none
Massively lucked out with tickets tonight
But peacock on that 100 mtrs ripped it and to be on the same side as the 100 mtrs and we were 8 rows from the front you just got absorbed in the atmosphere
Will live with me forever and to have been there with my son wow just wow