London 2012 blog

The last thing I had expected on my first day back from a week-long holiday in Mallorca, was to interview 70 very excited schoolchildren who were on a two-day visit to London. However, the first thing I ended up doing on my return from holiday was interview 70 very excited schoolchildren in east London. The pupils were the national finalists in VeloDream, a competition for UK schoolchildren to design their own dream Cycling venues for future Games.

Five secondary and five primary schools had been invited as finalists to a jam-packed, two-day visit to the capital, ending in the announcement of the two national winners. The schools gathered in Royal Victoria Docks – each school’s pupils confirming their presence in the roll call with a rousing cheer.
 

With the national winners only due to be announced on the second day of the visit, tension was already beginning to mount, with the children keen to explain why their designs were the most deserving.

The design team from Kingswood School and Specialist Technology College in the London Borough of Havering stressed how their ideas were eco-friendly: paths in their VeloPark were to be made from old tyres, with bicycle parts also used to make sculptures within the Park. The roof of the venue was covered in grass and solar panels used to provide renewable energy.

The Kingswood School's design:



The team from Little Harrowden Primary School in Wellingborough - explained how they focused on ways people would get to the venue. Their design featured a coach park, railway station and bus stop, as well as lanes for emergency access, the Royal Family and other VIPs. It also included a car park, or rather five car parks, in the shape of the Olympic rings when viewed from above. One of the rings was reserved for disabled parking.

Little Harrowden Primary School's design:



Before long we were all ushered on to coaches and – after more deafening cheers confirming each school’s presence – taken to the first destination of their visit: Lee Valley Athletics Centre in Hertfordshire.

En route I had hoped to speak to more children about their designs, but I had forgotten that age-old tradition of singing on bus journeys. I did manage to speak with Maidenbower Junior School in West Sussex.

Sam took time out from his game of cards to tell me about his ideas. There would be a hotel for the cyclists and people would get around the venue on a monorail. If they brought their bike, anyone would be able to get a trial of the Mountain Bike track.

Sam's ideas:



I left them at the Athletics Centre where they would hear Jerome Frost, the ODA’s Head of Design interview BMX world champion Shanaze Reade. This was followed by a chance for them to take part in a workshop hosted by members of the London 2012 Velodrome design team, where they would build a scale model of the 2012 Velodrome with bamboo, string and gaffer tape.

It was a great opportunity for the pupils to work with the design team and, with a visit to the site itself on the second day, find out more about progress on the 2012 Games. By midway through the first day they were already having a wail of a time, ‘especially’, as one of the pupils from Maidenbower said ‘when everyone else is doing maths’.

And while I didn’t join in with the singing on the bus, the morning wasn’t quite as terrifying as I had feared.