At the kind invitation of our Aviva Sponsorship clients, James and Greig had an exclusive preview of the Olympic Park in Stratford on Tuesday morning, including watching heats of various Paralympics’ events.
Both were impressed by the state of readiness with lots of friendly staff ready to help visitors find their way through the sprawling park area. Sadly our lads got lost en route from the tube to the stadium and had to be forcibly rescued from the Westfield Omega, TAG and Samsung retail outlets (twice) but they got there eventually. Phew!
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The Aquadrome and Velodromes are unquestionably spectacular buildings but our chaps were surprised at how small and intimate the main stadium felt. “Really close to the action” was James’ comment, debunking one of the worries voiced about an 80,000 seat stadium. It should also allay fears of the football fans concerned over the running track surrounding the grassed area – you really do feel right on top of things.
Let’s hope for brighter weather though, because coverage does not extend much into the lower seating areas. So if you have tickets in those sections, take your raincoat!
The public areas are clearly still a work in progress, with full fitting-out to a permanent spec to be completed once the post-Games bidding process is concluded, but the facilities and finish is perfectly practical for the pounding it’s going to take from so many visitors over the Summer.
Both chaps stood in bemused awe of the Arcel Mittal Arcellerator observation platform, a “building” clearly designed to polarise opinion (and it did), but sadly weren’t allowed up it to get a sense of the vantage point it affords.
And then, no sooner than they arrived, the chaps found themselves back in Westfield Stratford. It really is impossible to get to the Games without going in or out via Westfield unless you come by boat! Oh well, when in Rome….
