Becoming a Tour Maker

I'm just coming to the end of over two weeks off work and although by now the post-holiday blues would normally be kicking in, I've instead been distracted by my Tour Makers training event today. 

The Tour de France is this year starting in England, the first time it has since 2007 (it often starts in different countries and the route is different each year). The first two stages are in Yorkshire and the third stage is Cambridge - my home city - to London. I love being involved with sporting events and in recent years have become increasingly interested in watching the Tour (due to my husband being an avid fan rather than me just jumping on the Bradley bandwagon!) so once the call for Tour volunteers went out I was quick to sign up. 

Today was the first of two face to face training events. It was held in the Copper Box arena at the Olympic Park which gave us an opportunity to visit the Park. We watched some Paralympic events here back in 2012 and then last year we ran the 'Back to the Stadium' run which mostly involved running through a building site. I was keen to see what the public park was like and I wasn't disappointed. It was a sunny morning and the park was gradually filling up with families, people sunbathing, cyclists and runners. 

Right from the very beginning I have been pro London 2012 (I backed the bid!) and although I know that some people have concerns about the vast amounts of money spent, I think the current park is clearly helping leave the legacy that was so talked about. I spent most of the time we were wandering wishing I either had my bike with me, or my swimming kit so that I could try out the Olympic pool!

A perk of being a Tour Maker was 2 for 1 entry to the Orbit. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about going up as I don't really like the design of the Orbit but my husband was keen, so we paid our £15 (still pricey even with the deal!) and headed up in the lift. As it was a clear day, we were able to see right across London and actually I'm really glad we went up.

I'm not sure whether I'd recommend it at full price and the whole experience only took about 25 minutes - you get the lift up then walk down and there's no time limit so you could take longer - but if you're visiting the Park on a sunny day and like views then it probably is worth it as a one off. As we said, it's something we'd have done if we were visiting another city so it was nice to do it in our home capital aswell.

After a spot of brunch and a wander round more of the park, we arrived at the Copper Box. 

The event was more of an introduction to being a Tour Maker rather than a specific training session. The organisers were obviously keen to thank all of the volunteers and also to make us enthusiastic for the event itself. This meant we had lots of interesting guests - Perri Shakes Drayton chatted about how the Games Makers had contributed to London 2012 (and she encouraged us all to take lots of selfies!), Ian Stannard gave us a cyclist's perspective and several of the key organisers briefed us. We were also treated to a brilliantly funny live performance from Kate Fox, a comedian and poet who has written the official Tour poem, plus a live rendition of the (very good) official song, "The Road". 

All in all it was an excellent day and I'm really looking forward to being a Tour Maker. Is anyone else volunteering for a big event this summer?

Katie