On Monday the 3rd of September I headed to the Paralympics to spend the day watching Athletics and enjoying the park. It was a gorgeous sunny day, we arrived just after 10 and headed straight for the Stadium for our athletics session. We had no queues trying to get on the park or in to the Stadium, which we were thankfully for as we were running a little late. Our tickets cost £10 so I had no idea how good our view would be but I didn’t need to worry despite being high up we could see perfectly.
During the morning session we got to see Men’s long jump, Men’s and Women’s shot put, Men’s discuss and lots of track events. These were mostly heats but several of these had British people – hearing the crowd get behind the home team was incredible, I have never heard noise like that. We watched one guy come from 4th place to 1st purely because of the crowd cheering him on. The atmosphere was electric in the stadium, nearly every seat was full and despite most people being British every nationality got a huge cheer.
This was my second time of being in the stadium as I attended 2012 hours to go celebration back in May, that evening only half the stadium was full and the atmosphere was second to none. So getting the chance to go again was great! Sitting high up above the long jump made the stadium feel huge. We stayed there until 1 o clock watching the athletics and getting to see plenty of medal ceremonies – this included David Weir receiving his first gold medal.
After that I grabbed lunch and spent the day wandering the park, it is huge! The first time I went half of the park was closed off and still being constructed so to see it finished and so much busier than I expected meant the whole vibe of the day was great. I soaked up the sun and watched some wheelchair basketball in the Park Live area, I was surprised when they had presenters in the audience and gave away tickets for the athletics to the best dressed people. The food selection in the park was much better than I imagined and the prices were not too bad.
I was then lucky enough to get a Guest Pass for the MPC – the media centre. I got to wander around the press area where they keep all the photography and journalism information, it seemed very quiet while I was there but I can only imagine how busy it was during the Olympics. The building was huge and I got to see a lot of behind the scenes stuff only the workers get to see- this was all due to my boyfriend working there and being allowed to obtain Guest Pass to show family and friends around. I have seen how hard he has worked throughout the time he was been there but seeing it in person made me realize just how hard people have worked to make the Olympics happen for people like you and me.
I spent the evening watching darkness set and snapping away on my camera – I had seen amazing night pictures of the park in the dark and wanted to capture my own. I think I spent nearly 2 hours wandering and snapping, the park is pretty big but I really wanted to make sure I got some good shots. This is my favourite shot.
Overall my day at the park was something I won’t forget in a while, if you didn’t get chance to go this summer I have to say you missed out. The volunteers are the kindest people ever, the park looks glorious and the atmosphere was like something I have never experienced before. It was an event that brought all generations and types of people together to cheer and celebrate for their country. My only regret is that I only got to experience the stadium, I would love to have seen another event.
