Day 6 - What no spectators.

I guess none of you would have been up early enough to see the women's cycle road race, or for that matter even the men's. It's a pity because you'd have seen about 99% more than most people in Delhi. In a show of utter stupidity and arrogance by the powers that be (I'll leave you to decide who that might be) a "ring of steel" was thrown around Delhi town center that was impregnable to all but the local stray dogs and a few very stubborn Brits.

Having argued with the Indian police and army for over an hour we eventually got though three of the four rings to a point were we could actually see. With no video screens it was hard to know who had won the women's race. With the thought of 3 more hours in 40+ degrees of heat we chose to retire to a local hotel for pizza and kingfisher.
We later found that Lizzie Armitstead of England won silver in the women's race and David Millar of Scotland finished third in the men's. Just a pity we couldn't cheer them over the line. Really doubt it's worth coming to the marathon ...

After a cold shower it was off to the athletics. Now after a week the organising committee seem to have got things a little more organised. Air freshener for the stinking river; most of the planting finished in the gardens; crowd barriers (why!); ditching the stupid food and drink tickets etc. Then a ban on bags! Why, nobody knows, but no amount of arguing could move them. We were lucky and had our coach to dump them on, many weren't so fortunate. 

The evening had some great field events including the men's discus in which India won a Silver and the high jump in which the 6' 4" Nicole Forrester won despite her obvious lack of technique. Vicki Hubbard came 4th, the worst possible place but having missed most of the season and only been cleared to jump 2 weeks ago she was philosophical. I had the pleasure of watch the event with her parents and getting quite an insight into the rigours of her training. Never again will I think of it as a job for tall, skinny girls who weren't spotted on the street by Elite!  

The men's 800m was the expected Kenyan victory with all medallists having Kiplagat in there name. Boaz won with brothers Richard and Abraham getting the minor medals. They were followed home by a further set of brothers Gareth and Chris Warburton of Wales.

England also had cause to rejoice as Leon Baptiste triumphed in the 200m beating the 7th or 8th ranked Jamaican on the dip. I'm sure Leon couldn't care less who he beat, you've gotta be there to win it Usain!