Well it's been a few days of trains. At the weekend it was the East Midlands, yesterday was the Yorkshire Committee for 2012, and today was a trip with Seb Coe to the North West. Yesterday the Yorkshire Committee spent some time working on the plan for how Yorkshire and Humber would benefit from the Games. There are lots of partners involved – education, culture, tourism, business, government, and of course sport – all looking to maximise the benefits of the Games for their region. And some of the investment is paying off already – at the start of the meeting they pointed out that 21% of the medals from Beijing were to Yorkshire-related athletes!

And so to today. It was one of Seb's regular trips and today it was to the North West. There were 2 main stops – Preston and Crewe. In Preston we visited West View Leisure Centre and the University of Central Lancashire, and in Crewe it was their campus of Manchester Metropolitan University and the Cumberland Sports Centre. 3 of these 4 are in the London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp.

In Preston at the Leisure Centre we focused on swimming and learnt that Preston Swimming Club is one of the oldest in the country. Teams of young people were practising hard in their 25m pool but everyone emphasised how much they wanted and needed a 50m one – often they only get to swim in a 50m pool when they're in a competition. And there’s a waiting list at the pool now to learn to swim – another effect of Beijing, they said. At the University in Preston there were mayors and mayoresses in all their chains to greet us as well as dozens and dozens of young people on the athletics track, on bikes and playing football.

Then it was a trip south to Crewe where students were getting the freshers fair ready to open tomorrow and looking to sign new-comers to activities such as football – men and women, rugby – men and women and cheerleading – but didn’t see any chaps for that. Philip Craven, fresh from Beijing, spoke powerfully about the spirit of sport changing lives and said that in his view the NW had it the strongest – being a NW man you can understand why. Seb spoke of his experiences and encouraged the students to go 'faster, higher, stronger'.


And so finally to the Cumberland Sports Arena in Crewe, to once again be greeted by partners from across the region and again dozens and dozens of young people playing football, rugby, on the track and performing dances.

The sun shone all day, there was sporting activity everywhere we went, our partners were telling us what they were going to do to make sure that the Games were for the North West as well as London, and were going to leave a lasting legacy. What a day.