A Day at the Commonwealth Games
We had an exciting day at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday. We went with Steve and Biddy so spent Wednesday with them too so that we could then travel in to see some of the action on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games Tickets
We had originally thought of getting tickets for the cycling in the Velodrome. Fortunately we checked to see where exactly Lee Valley was as it was taking place in the Lee Valley Velodrome. We discovered that despite this being the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Velodrome was in London! That wasn’t much help, so the idea of the Velodrome was given up on. We did however get some tickets for the Athletics.
You didn’t really get to choose where you sat, just what price band of tickets you were willing to buy. We went for the mid range tickets and chose a night where we could still get 4 tickets together. It didn’t start until 6:30pm though so we decided to head into Wolverhampton earlier in the day to watch the cycling Time Trial that was taking place from West Park.
Wolverhampton
So, after breakfast at Steve and Biddy’s it was a short drive to Wellington Train Station where we got the train into Wolverhampton. Driving was never going to be an option really as there were of course lots of roads closed and parking would be impossible. The train was a quick and easy option and took us to the centre of the action.
The Time Trial
A short walk from the train station and we were on the Time Trial course just in time to see the first of the Women cyclists fly past.
We then spent the rest of the morning strolling around parts of the course, cheering the women as they rode past and taking in the sights.
It was of course difficult to get an idea of what was actually happening, but that’s always going to be the case with a Time Trial anyway. Anna did get the BBC coverage on her phone though so we soon knew who was winning! We even managed to catch a glimpse of ourselves on the TV coverage, watching the ourselves on the TV coverage!!
We watched the women cycle past on their way out of Wolverhampton from various vantage points. We were then just in the right place at the right time to see them all come back into the city and off towards the finish line too. It was a nice atmosphere, it was easy to get around. It wasn’t busy, but there were plenty of people supporting the athletes.
Once the women had finished we headed towards West Park where the start and finish was. You had to have tickets to enter this area so we headed off to find some lunch instead before the Men’s race started.
We then watched a few of the Men cycle past before it was time to get back on the train and head back to Steve and Biddy’s so that we could get to the athletics stadium for the evening.
The Commonwealth Games Athletics
This time it was a short driver into Birmingham to a Park and Ride followed by a bus trip to the stadium. Everything was well organised and went smoothly and that set the tone for the entire evening.
The organisation at the stadium was in fact perfect. I guess it has to be with so many people attending but it couldn’t be faulted. There was only a little bit of queuing to get through the airport style security, but it was quick, easy and painless. Although there was a little bit of a queue it was moving the whole time and only took a few minutes. The only other time we queued was to get back on the bus at the end of the night, but again that was a non-stop queue and took no time at all. We did have to wait a few minutes for our pizza’s to cook, but you’d expect that!
The stadium looked amazing with some huge temporary stands constructed so that it could hold 30,000 people as opposed to it’s usual 18,000 capacity.
We soon found our seats which were in the second row in the far corner to the track finish line. I was a little unsure of how much we’d actually see from there but it turned out to be fine. We were sat in our seats relatively early and there wasn’t that much atmosphere to start with but the sun was shining and it was hot, especially as it was now early evening.
The stadium gradually filled up and things began happening. Mind you, even before the events started it was interesting to see the organisation and preparations taking place. Every so often a line of volunteers or officials would walk past in a regimented style. Again, all part of the slick organisation and attention to detail.
Action Everywhere
Before long the events themselves kicked off and soon it was difficult to know where to look. The Decathlon High Jump wasn’t too far from us so we could see that quite well. There were medal ceremonies taking place on the opposite side of the track and the para-discus was taking place at the other end of the stadium. There was loads happening and what we couldn’t see from our viewpoint was being displayed on the huge screens anyway.
The atmosphere was building too, especially when an English athlete was taking part. We were up and down in our seats for the medal ceremony national anthems now and then, including a Welsh Gold Medal that allowed us to wave our flags and try to get on the big screen ourselves. We never did, but there were plenty of other Welsh supporters that managed it. We even had another slice of our pizza expecting to end up on the camera just as we were stuffing our faces but that didn’t work either!
We saw the Women’s 400m Hurdles and the long jump started just along the straight from us. We couldn’t see the actual jump very well but the start of the run up and the athletes preparing were right in front of us. The para-discus drew to a close with a Nigerian woman breaking the World Record twice and taking the Gold Medal. There was also a wheelchair 1500m event taking place that obviously passed us several times and the Men’s Discus started up.
The Long Jump continued through it’s various rounds and became more exciting as it did. We felt as though we had got to know some of the long-jumpers too as they urged us to support them before their jumps with rhythmic clapping.
As the sun set things became a little chilly which was actually quite nice after the early evening heat but it was soon on with down jackets as the skies darkened and the moon rose above the stadium opposite. It was actually easier to see once the stadium was floodlit rather than sunlit.
There was a men’s T11/T12 100m final on the far side of the track, more medal ceremonies and the men that had been high jumping as part of the Decathlon High Jump at the start of the session were back on the track for their 400m race. The Long jump finally came to a close with a very tight finish between the Bahamas and India. Both finished with a jump of 8.08m but the Bahamas took it due to a better second best attempt.
Finally there was the Men’s 110m Hurdles Final. Actually, that wasn’t quite the end of it as the Discus was still ongoing but most people were now leaving and it had been a long day for us, so we joined the crowds too. It didn’t take long to get back to the bus for the trip to the Park and Ride and then the drive back to Steve and Biddy’s.
We were all pretty tired after a day at the Commonwealth Games and we’d only been watching! A brilliant day out though.
1 Response
[…] week whilst at the Commonwealth Games I had a message from Simon telling me that he was going windsurfing in Morocco. His daughter was […]