London 2012 blog

This year’s Roadshow is all about having a go and joining in. And Bradley Everest is glad he did just that at the Kent County Show last Saturday.

Bradley is 21 years old and has recently moved from Orpington to Ramsgate. Bradley was enjoying his annual day out at the Show and decided to pop in to the Roadshow and have a go at the Dream Stats activities.

Whilst in a number of sports teams at school – cricket, football and volleyball – Bradley hasn’t done much sport since. He enjoys a bit of recreational cycling, but his real passion is ten-pin bowling. Delighted that his Dream Stats showed that he is ideally suited to cycling, Bradley decided to have a go at a couple of the Dream Stats tests.

First off, the grip test which reveals grip strength. The average male score is 40kg, with Audley Harrison weighing in at an impressive 70kg. Bradley scored 86kg.

The curiosity of Steve Backley, our Olympic athlete for the day, was immediately aroused. Bradley repeated the grip test, scoring an incredible 87.5kg. Next, the rowing machine.

After a few false starts – we moved the back of the rower onto the grass as it kept wobbling (probably due to the strength being applied) – we all eagerly awaited the results. Bradley scored an amazing 743W on the 7-stroke power test. To put into context, Steve Redgrave’s score was 736W.

Asked whether he had any idea he would get these results, Bradley modestly replied that he didn’t realise that he was so strong.

I asked what he did for work – he is a night worker at Tescos. Did this involve lots of lifting? Not really. Asked what he planned to do with these result – definitely join a rowing club.

And any advice to anyone else who may not think that they have any talent and so aren’t bothering with sport? Try everything once – you never know what you might achieve.

Making sure we’d got Bradley’s details, I shook his hand goodbye – and got an insight into the strength in that grip!!

Steve Backley tries rowing:



And finds it all quite amusing: