18 raring2go.co.uk 19 Raring2go! INTERVIEW Raring2go! COMMONWEALTH GAMES Raring2go! WHAT’S ON? 2 .c . k Get Set for the Commonwealth Games this Summer This Summer, athletes from 72 nations and territories of the Commonwealth will come together in Birmingham to compete in a range of sports from swimming to bowls. If you haven’t been lucky enough to get your hands on tickets to watch the events in person you can still get a piece of the action. Watch the Baton Relay On 18 July, after an international tour of the Commonwealth, the Queen’s Baton Relay will arrive in the West Midlands to complete the final 11 days of its journey to the host city of Birmingham. Check out the route and find the best place for you to see it at www.birmingham2022.com. If you fancy something a little different, the Severn Valley Railway has announced that it will be hosting a section of the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay in the final build-up to the Commonwealth Games this summer. It will travel along the line, hauled very appropriately by No. 70 ‘Elizabeth II’, the steam locomotive recently painted purple and silver to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Line the route Some events will be taking place in locations open to the general public. Although you need tickets for the start and finish lines (except the marathon), spectators are welcome to line the streets along the routes and therefore watch the action free of charge. 1. Marathon – 30 July The men’s, women’s and T53/ T54 events are all taking place on the same course which will start at Smithfield, Birmingham. Competitors will cross the finish line at Victoria Square in Birmingham city centre as they complete the gruelling 26.2 mile event. 2. Triathlon and Para Triathlon – 29 and 31 July The Triathlon and Para Triathlon (for athletes with a visual impairment – PTVI) events will take place within Sutton Park and on the local roads to the south of the park, in and around Boldmere High Street. 3. Road Cycling Time Trial – 4 August West Park, Wolverhampton will be the start and finish point for this race against the clock. It will take more than 90 male and female cyclists through Dudley, passing the town’s famous castle and zoo, into Staffordshire, then back to Wolverhampton. 4. Cycling Road Race – 7 August The Cycling Road Race starts and finishes at St Nicholas Park, Warwick. The riders will pass the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, as well as Victoria Park, Leamington Spa, the venue for the Birmingham 2022 lawn bowls and para lawn bowls competition. The women will complete seven laps of a 16km course, whilst the men will complete ten. The final part of the course will cross the River Avon, taking in the view of Warwick Castle. To see the routes plus more information visit www.birmingham2022.com. Commonwealth Games “Brings out the Best in People” Ross Davenport, double gold medal-winning swimmer speaks to Raring2go! Hosting the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham is “amazing” for the local community and the whole country, as they “bring out the best in people”, Ross Davenport, gold medal-winning swimmer told Raring2go! at the launch of Derby’s Moorways Sports Village and Water Park in May. “I think we saw the impact that the 2012 Olympic Games had not just on London but everybody connected to Great Britain and to sport – and having that event to inspire younger people to get involved into physical activity can only be a good thing,” he said. Davenport won double gold at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games in the 200m freestyle and the 4 x 200m freestyle relay events. He also competed in the 2004 Olympics (finishing fourth in the 4 x 200m relay) and the 2008 Olympics where he finished 10th in the 200m freestyle. So how does he think the two global sporting events compare? “Having won at the Commonwealths and come fourth at the Olympics, I think that the Commonwealth Games are bigger than the Olympics. But maybe that’s because I didn’t win at the Olympics!” he laughed. “Everyone who competes at (or goes to) the Commonwealth Games talk about how much fun they have and how friendly it is – yes it’s very serious and there’s two billion people watching worldwide, and it’s the second biggest games that we have on the planet. But it brings out the best in people; not only from a sporting perspective but in uniting different nations together,” he said. The swimmer grew up in Belper, Derbyshire, and trained in Derby at its old swimming pool. At 24.6 metres, the largest pool was not even long enough to practice a 25-metre race. Davenport was speaking about the new facilities at Moorways Sports Village, which includes a 50-metre pool. While he found a love of swimming from an early age, he gave up the sport aged 13 for a year. “I was going swimming in a hot, stuffy environment. I wanted to go and play football, I wanted to play with my mates after school,” he said of his teenage years. “The best decision I ever made was to go back and do something that I realised I actually loved doing. It’s led me to so many places around the world, it’s created so many opportunities,” he continued. So what would he say to a young person who perhaps has come fourth in a race or event and is thinking about giving up? “My advice to anybody would be to keep going. There’s going to be tough times, there’s going to be some good times, but if you can keep riding that wave and you can keep going through, then it will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. “I do always look back and think if I hadn’t taken the initiative and got back in the pool at the age of 14, all these opportunities wouldn’t have happened, so sport can open so many doors. The individual themselves has to walk through them, but it has the power to create so many great avenues,” he added. The Commonwealth Games will run from 28th July to 8th August. Davenport offers this advice for any children thinking about sport: “There’s certainly been lots of people along the way… that helped me, that encouraged me.. and some people that made negative comments, that also inspired me in a positive way. So I think as a young person or a parent you have to gain all that knowledge and advice that you can do, but if someone tells you you’re not good enough then you have to make your own path and try and prove them wrong.”
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