London 2012 blog

The facilities picked to be part of the Pre-Games Training Camps spread right across the UK so we were out and about helping out at for the announcements. I went to Newport and more interestingly for me as a cyclist, the Velodrome. I often go to Cardiff so remembered to get off the train in time. As we crossed the river I saw the castle for the first time and the helpful and well informed taxi driver told me it was built in Norman times and had been used until recently. They knew how to build! He also told me Newport was riding high for new jobs and investment.

So to the Velodrome - one of the facilities chosen to be in the Guide. It's quite a new building and when I got there I was chatting to a young competition hopeful who was gearing up (no pun intended) for the demo. The partners were lined up on the top table and all talked about the positive news for Wales of having so many potential preparation camps named, and all the educational, cultural and economic spin-offs. And the cyclists went round and up and down the track as they spoke. Then the Paralypmic hopefuls took to their bikes for a fitting finale.

As for the rest of the UK, the announcement is great news for Wales.