Legacy Games.

Sunday and it must have been the Paralympic Legacy Games!

I ordered my tickets many months back and had the choice of any of the three days. I could have seen Bolt, Farrah or Ennis-Hill on the Friday and Saturday but I wanted to see Weir, Cockroft and Peacock, just as I did a year back.
Some things are life changing. Loss of a limb or brain damage are obviously life changing but the effect of the Paralympics 2012 was life changing for the athletes and for some of the spectators. Their lives changed because all of a sudden we had a new breed of athletes that we had ignored (by and large). All of a sudden they had the "luxury" of being able to train as athletes, they were finally recognised for their abilities rather than disabilities and for me, the generic, blinkered UK cross section of the public, my perception has been permanently changed. I watched the athletics from Birmingham and France on TV and the Parathletics World Championship from Lyon as well. I did enjoy the Parathletics more but that could be because Hannah Cockroft, Johnnie Peacock and the legendary Richard Whitehead, were all racing, that and the warm fuzzy feeling that the Paralympics left me with, a feeling that I still get today when I think about it.
So, I took both my daughters, I had selected seats roughly in the same area as last year, on high facing the finish line. As it happens, it was a stroke of genius, yes, I would have been up close and personal with the athletes if I had chosen lower level seats but high up we were covered from the sun and the rain.
I won't cover all the events but sufficed to say, this time I took my zoom lens so I have some good shots.
Hannah Cockroft was invincible and most definitely the darling of the stadium.

                                                   Hannah Cockroft and fellow racer Mel Nicholls:

Richard Whitehead is a warrior, winning from impossible positions, as usual. A man that is planning to run from John O'Groats to Land's end for charity: http://www.richardwhiteheadrunsbritain.com/
I have to say that the atmosphere was absolutely electric for this race, it raised the hackles on my neck and was possibly my favourite moment of the day.

 

As with every athletic meet, the big event is the 100m and para athletics is no exception. We were all waiting for Johnnie Peacock, poster boy of the Paralympics, Olympic and World Champion, the expectations were high.

The atmosphere was incredible, the cheers deafening and the pressure must have been immense. Having beaten this field last week, England expected...

It was an amazing race, gripping, exciting and tense. Peacock came in third with a PB, beaten by two World record times. Do you know what? It really didn't matter, it was such an exciting race that we really didn't mind that our golden boy lost, we whooped and cheered for them all.

 And then we had that moment of clarity, when the superhumans become human again and we are faced with the reality of disability. As I was at the games, I missed the TV interview that explained this photograp, but from what I understand, at the Paralympics this young fellow was disheartened because he couldn't keep up with his friends. He has since been fitted with a blade and this picture brings home the enormity of all of this, the para athletes, the achievements and the human moment when a child of four years old has a disability that becomes cool. Shocking to even say that but these athletes have made it so.

And so on to the final event, the great David Weir and the mile. He was the favourite and is very much loved by the crowd. He was planning a World Record and the pace was to be fast. He didn't disappoint, this wasn't a race, it was a procession. Yes, the World record fell and we were in the presence of greatness, a man that is as honest as he is good at what he does, a rare combination. A quiet man with a love of his family and home that has been thrust into the spotlight and it is obvious that he must enjoy it in some way but he is so beautifully unnatural when a microphone is thrust in his face and comes across as a bit of a grump, he just endears himself, very naturally, to the great unwashed, he is quite simply one of us, the People's Champion.

Finally, just one more thing. I found Brent Lakatos to be instantly likeable. Watching him win in the World Championship on TV was a joy, what a great competitor and to see him win again on Sunday was wonderful. His wife is Britain's long jumper, Stefanie Reid and the two make a wonderful couple.

So much to say but so few words that mean anything to say it in. I really hope that other nations get behind their para athletes because it is here to stay and if they can just embrace it, they will be rewarded with something that will out run their expectations, bravery, disability, athleticism and most importantly, normality. It is all so perfectly normal that it all makes sense.

What is it about the Spitfire that is so magical?

As you may have guessed, I have taken photographs, almost exclusively, of landscapes. I have recently been to some airshows and my Red Arrows shots made one of my blogs last year. This year I went to a small local airshow for Armed Forces Day.

So, Armed Forces Day, a day when we celebrate the services that protect us and look after us. Some people appear to have issues with this, like the council at Luton that cancelled their Forces Day celebrations. I assume they have a valid explanation for this but none has been forthcoming so far, or John Blundell a businessman and Conservative leader in Coventry that didn't attend the Armed Forces commemoration at Coventry Cathedral because he was invited to the practise day at Silverstone, not an issue I would normally bother with except that he "tweeted" it as if it were something to be proud of. Don't label yourself as related to the ruling Political Party and then dismiss the Armed Services as being secondary to the practise laps of a race, it is simply offensive. Stupid man.

Enough of these imbeciles, myself and my wife showed our support and in the process were treated to the thrill of the year, a Hurricane, Spitfire and Red Arrows flypast. Here are some of the pictures that I took:

 

What is it about the Spitfire that is so magical? Yes, it is a truly beautiful aeroplane and the sound of that Rolls Royce engine is a joy to hear but there is something so iconic about it, so British, I am not sure another Nationality would understand the pride in something so mechanical. I get the same feeling with the Red Arrows, the Lancaster and the Vulcan. 

And before you accuse me of playing with Photoshop, yes, the plane is blue, it was an unarmed, lightly armoured aircraft that was used for photographic reconnaissance, it was painted blue as camouflage and made as light as possible for speed and it was absolutely breathtaking, the sound, the shape and the the display we were treated to, low and close enough for everyone to get a shot of. I genuinely can't remember seeing a Spitfire this close, I know that I must have though.

Finally it was time for the Red Arrows. Now I had been told that we were in for a display but on arriving I was told it was a flypast, that was fine except that when they said flypast I thought it meant a couple of runs, not simply there they are and there they go. Yep, they flew straight over, I didn't see them until the last minute as we had no idea what direction they were coming from but luckily I managed to fire off a couple of photos and the first one captured all 11 planes.

 

I couldn't be much prouder. I took hundreds of photos and most came out, it was a day that couldn't fail and I am now scanning the airshows looking for one the has the BBF, Vulcan and Red Arrows and I was amazed to see that quite a few airshows have all 3 of these so with any luck I will come over all patriotic and gushy when I see all my favourite planes in one day. 

*With the exception of Concorde and the Mosquito, also favourites of mine.