The National Lottery's Dream Stats Sporting Ambassadors arrived mid-morning – local and national heroes Beth Tweddle, the World Champion gymnast; and Fran Halsall, Commonwealth silver medal-winning swimmer and one of Team GB's great hopes for London 2012.
Immediately they were in demand with both the public and the media. Beth in particular was soon surrounded by adoring young gymnasts clamouring for tips, encouragement and inspiration from the World Champ.
Beth and Fran had a go on the Dream Stats Calculator on the National Lottery stand – which revealed cycling as being the ideal sport for both of them! Not as strange as it may seem, since both gymnastics and swimming – like cycling – require a strong body power profile.
They went on to prove their prowess as all-round talented sportswomen, with Beth having a go at fencing – coached by GB fencer James Williams – and Fran taking part in the volleyball demo. Well, in the unlikely event that their first choice sport ever goes wrong, at least they can be certain of having good back-ups!
As usual, the Dream Stats zone promoted a healthy competitive atmosphere. One visitor, with sprinting revealed as his ideal sport, had a go at our standing vertical jump – and his girlfriend was highly unimpressed at the meagre score he achieved compared to Roger Black’s 64cm! So, thus motivated, he had another couple of goes, finally recording a very respectable 62cm.
Chester’s young judo players were similarly inspired, queuing up to beat each other’s grip test scores – and recording some impressive results in the progress, every single one of them beating the average 18-40 year old score – even the 12 year olds!
Fired up by this assurance of their power and strength, they went into the arena to perform a superb judo demonstration, engaging members of the public and showing us exactly how it was done.
But demo over, they were back at the Dream Stats stand, becoming committed fans of Batak – a fun game to test hand-eye co-ordination – and accepting the challenge of Dream Stats’ Andy to better his high score. Gamely, they gave it everything they had, but even with 5 people playing in a superb display of teamwork, they couldn’t top Andy’s 35. It’s now a goal for the rest of the team…well we’ve got another few weeks to practice!
From Chester it’s down to the sandy beaches and rolling surf (we hope) of Newquay. With any luck the sun will keep shining on us – we’re waxing our surfboards in anticipation of another exciting event!
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