On Saturday the Women’s Tour was finishing a section of the race in Welwyn, so I persuaded Andy to go along.
In the morning I had been on a 9.5 mile run. I wanted to do 10 miles, but the weather was predicted to be heavy rain and wind, so I thought I would play it by ear. I have a half marathon at the end of June, so a while away really, but we have a wedding next weekend, and then we are away the week after, so I wanted to have a solid long run before these two weeks as I think I will have to drop back. Anyway, I ran through the town centre and saw them putting up the finish area clock, all the fencing and the podium, and that got me more excited! It was drizzling when I left, then it brightened up, and then when I was about a mile from home the heavens opened and I was drenched within seconds- hello squelchy trainers. I was going to go out and back to make it up to ten miles, but I was pretty close, and I was soaked and knew that the extra half a mile would not make any difference to my half marathon training, so headed home to drip everywhere and fill my trainers with newspaper.
Shock! No pancakes! I was hungry after my shower and also pretty cold, so I opted for a quick breakfast of muesli (that stuff is not as nice as the normal Dorset stuff), strawberries and raspberries, and a chocolate flake tea. Mmmmm. Then, after drying my hair we were off! Due to road closures we parked near Andy’s work and walked in to town from there- we could hear the tannoy from a while away- it was very exciting!!
We found a good spot to stand, and had to wait for about half an hour. The atmosphere was great though- music playing, kids being handed little flags and windmills, the guy announcing giving updates (“they are 10km away now” etc) and then suddenly we could see them whizz around the corner. The speed they went past was amazing. I mean, I expected them to be fast, but literally blink and you would have missed half of them!
Most of them went past within seconds of each other, but there were a few that came in a bit later (maybe 5 minutes later, not much)- the announcer commented that because it is a team sport these back riders would have had important jobs earlier in the race.
Then we went to watch the presentations of all the different jerseys- they actually put them on right then! Although one rider won three different jerseys so she had to keep coming back on again!
By then it had started tipping it down, but the crowd was still there.
After the final presentation we wandered into the town centre and passed the Wiggle Honda team gazebo.
Laura Trott was in there having her photo taken and chatting to people. I saw her talking to a little girl and I just think it is great that children, especially young girls, have sporty female role models to look up to.
After that we went to Starbucks to warm up – I had a free drink to use on my card so we shared a huge chai latte- mmmmm.
Are you a fan of watching sporting events? I like watching running races but have not really watched cycling before, but it was really exciting.
Love that you went. When the Olympics were on we went out to Albury (+a little walk) to watch the mens road race …. they were SOOOOO fast, thank goodness there were a few of them otherwise I’d have missed them. The crowd was really thick and view was limited but it was still exciting to have been there.
Yes I suppose we saw the sprint finish but I was still amazed at how fast they sped by- it was so exciting!!!!
That is so cool that you got to see that. I’ve never been to watch any cycling events before, need to add it to my list of things to see!
I have not seen a cycling event before but it was great. Well except for the London to Brighton bike ride as my Dad always used to do that.
Well done for braving the rain!
I don’t watch team sports but it is something id do if the opportunity arose, I always enjoy seeing live events when I go.
I think once we were there we basically had to stay as we had gone to the effort!
OOOh cool, well done for braving the rain! I think the women’s tour was a fantastic success – I would have loved to go along to the finish of a stage. The men’s tour is starting a stage in Bath later this year so Mr PoP and I will go along to that – exciting!
Exciting stuff! Have fun when you go 🙂
Urgh rain sucks. When is spring really going to get here?? Though saying that I’ll probably get fed up of running in hot weather soon!
Wow sounds really cool about the cycling. I’ve never seen a cycling event and it sounds quite exhilarating.
I always think that seeing something like a car race would be fun but also quite uneventful because the cars go by so quickly – almost no point in spectating! But I imagine the atmosphere would be quite exciting.
Yeah the weather is real April showers at the moment! It was exhilarating to see- well worth the visit.
That looks like a lot of fun, apart from the rain! I’d love to spectate at the GNR, my Mam and Dad really enjoyed watching the elites while they waited for me to finish!
Yes I love watching running races too- seeing elites is amazing!
Sounds like an awesome event to watch. I do like watching sporting events, but I don’t think I could stick the heavy rain for too long. 🙂
I did have a hood in my coat, but my jeans were starting to get soggy!
That sounds amazing! I LOVE watching sporting events live, there’s nothing like it! The atmosphere is just incredible 🙂 I always watch the London Marathon and never fail to be humbled and inspired by watching the runners, especially the crazy-fast elites!!
Have a lovely weekend 🙂
It was amazing! Yes it is always inspiring to see elites!
I love going to sporting events like this to watch, I find it really inspiring.
Me too 🙂
I’ve never seen a cycling event before, but loads of our club headed down to see the ladies bikes go through last week. I think I’d probably enjoy going to watch it, but not involved in the sport myself I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get quite the same buzz from it that I do from spectating the running events.
Heard you on MT today! 🙂
I don’t cycle but I found it really exciting still- I am sure you would enjoy it.