I arrived at the bus station to catch the night bus at 4am, and was joined in the queue by two people who had clearly recently come out of the local night club. When the bus arrives at the stop, they both stood up, one dropping all his cards and the other dropping all his money! This was to set the tone for the entire bus journey!
The bus passed the night club in question, more for on, as for several more stops along the way drunken bums joined me on the night bus. One particularly loud group of kids wearing garlands spotted me seated on the 'safe' seat at the from by the driver and roared 'oooooooagg Olympics.... Oooooargh' I took one ear phone out and asked 'sorry, what did you say?' 'Nothing!' he declared and swiftly went upstairs!
I must have looked like a safe bet, in my Gamesmaker uniform, because several women chose to sit next to me along the way to central London!
When I got to Hyde park, the rain was trenching down.
Disorientated in the still very dark Saturday morning, I decided my best bet was to follow the huge security fencing round to check in.
By that time, the dawn was just breaking. Breakfast already felt like an age away. There was already people arriving to get themselves a good position for the race: it was 5:30am and they didn't start till 9am!
I was pleased to find a few familiar faces here in the team, which was hardly surprising, and I started with the essential free coffee, then off to our posts.
What an unusual conversation I had with a few fellow gamesmakers though, as we gathered before going out on the course. We were discussing how to fit everything in our small uniform issue bag. One person said 'I have socks in here'. 'what, along with your lunch?' I asked. 'no! I haven't had them on my feet!' they reassured me. The other said 'well I have knickers in mine!' hmmm need to know basis for that information - and I didn't need to know! Hahahah
The crowds on the Wellington Arch were thin at first, as Hyde park was clearly the favourite place to be. Now an estimated 500,000 they think, in the end! It wasn't long before people started cramming into the barriers near the arch, trying to find a front row viewing spot in a very quickly crowded course.
We got chatting to a very lovely group of international suporters including Americans, Canadians, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and many more. The lovely lady from new Zealand even went to Pret a Manger to get us coffee, thank you to that lovely lady!
As per what is becoming usual, I reports what I knew of the race progress to the crowd, but to be honest, I think there was a larger than normal amount of people watching who hadn't seen a triathlon before - which is brilliant for the sport. It was hard for us to know what was going on elsewhere, and we heard via several different 3G connections (including mine - I purchased extra data usage this very morning!) this is how we discovered there had been crashes elsewhere - including the camera bike as well!
After the last bike lap we watched TV huddled round my phone to find out the outcome. Not an expected one, but Britain were still proud of Jenkins and the team anyway.
We had to stay put, as the men's practice was next. From our point, people had to walk past to get Rothe nearest tube access point - Green Park. A wall of people came past for well over 90 minutes solid. The crowds must have been immense.
I did wonder why athletes like Gomez who has clearly races this course lots of tea, might want to ride a recce, but I realised then, it is probably the only chance to ride on a traffic free road!
Brilliant day, proud to assist, even of wearing the purple outfit did turn me into a temporary tour guide expert after the race! Hahahah My general knowledge of London is improving in leaps and bounds!
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