Jo a converted runner has been training in a heat chamber in Leeds and at holding camp in Doha, well worth the pain for a gold medal. Her Parents are on out trip and dragged our, over worked, guide Vinny out of bed at 4am to get them to the start. Apparently they blagged there way into the VIP seating as they're tour England tee-shirts and lanyards fooled the ever vigilant security. Furthermore Jo's sister, also an athlete managed to "wander" onto the course and spend 10 minutes warming-up with her.
All that matters is that she's got gold and her parents are ecstatic if a little tired. I'm not expecting to see them at dinner. So far the tour has a gold and a silver.
After the early excitement I had a leisurely morning. First breakfast (more beer enquiries) and then yesterdays blog. Somehow that took up 2 hours.
After a trip to the local shop (were not talking Sainsbury Local) it was off to the last day of the swimming. I was expecting to see Rebecca Addlington lift gold but due to either a schedule change or my dyslexia she was having a rest.
On arrival a bit of a school boy error left us sat with a bunch of Aussie's. They were loud to the point of annoyance. Later I found out why!
Highlights in the pool were Hannah Miley of Scotland winning the 400m individual medley. Not only did she beat an Aussie but England's Keri-Ann Payne came third. I cheered home home as I'm watching the swimming with 2 Scots Ian and Andrea McFarland. Andrea's actually from Cornwall but Ian's from Glasgow so I'll let him off. That said they live in Lymm ...
It seems they're tour dream was to sing the Flower O' Scotland and they and their Jock pals did a great job.
The women's 200m butterfly saw another bronze for England with Ellen Gandy coming through in the last length.
Back to the loud Aussie. Their daughter Jo Williams was swimming in the 100m S9 Butterfly. In a great race the phenomenon that is Natalie Du Toit won with England Steph Millward second and Jo third. I was happy as no Aussie anthem and an English medal and they were estatic.
Swimming finished with the sprints, no surprise in the results except that SA squeeze England out in the Men's. Overall an enjoyable time if a little to Gold and Green.
At this point my day started to fall apart, I'd hoped that a swift finish to the swimming and a fast car across town would allow me to catch most of the evening's athletics. No such luck, a late finish, Indian's taking in the night air and gridlock meant than I'd be luck to catch a medal ceremony let alone a race. I decided to cut my loses and head for the hotel, a Kingfisher and my dinner. So that's were I'm off to now.
Plans for tomorrow! I'm thinking of passing up a tour of Delhi to watch the cycling road race, got to me worth it!
Update on the merchandising. By quizzing of the officials might have worked as I now have a list of 10 "stores" that have merchandise ... wish me luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment