Day 2 at the Track & Field

By Volunteer James Irwin

After the novelty and uncertainty of day one, the Mary Peters Track sprang to life this morning as if it plays host to the World Police and Fire Games every day. The Games bubble has enveloped everyone involved; suddenly, normal life, with its pedestrian struggles, seems less important.

The Games have found their groove: a fast-paced rhythm of event after event punctuated by starter pistols, engaging commentary and the undulating hum and applause of watching crowds. It is wonderfully easy to immerse yourself in it. Pick any event around the arena and you can find something to cheer, inspire or, in most cases, something to make you feel hopelessly inadequate.

The 64 year old former police officer who won 100m gold in his age category, cutting half a second from his personal best in the process, for example. Or indeed any of the competitors in the 60 years and over categories, setting times and distances worthy of men and women half their age. Aren’t we supposed to get slower and weaker as we age? Suddenly my personal ‘journey’ from 20-a-day smoker to regular runner, akin to one American spectator I spoke to today, feels simultaneously insignificant in comparison but also necessary and something to be built on. Just recalling these so-called ‘old’ competitors with their athleticism, fitness and general wellbeing should be enough to dispel any risk of falling off the running wagon.

Setting the standard for the seniors is Victoria State Police veteran Valma Walsh. Valma is competing in her seventh World Police and Fire Games and comes to Belfast to defend four titles. Today she took part in the 5k walk and in the coming days will throw the javelin and discus among her other events. She turns 80 tomorrow.

Speaking to me after the walk, Valma told me about her varied career, spending time in the army, training as a nurse, joining the police, leaving when “promotion was too slow”, then rejoining as a nurse officer and moving up steadily until she retired. Combined with her sporting achievements and friendly nature, hers is a life that encapsulates the maxim that it is what you make of it.

Also among the sickeningly brilliant athletes today was Brant Gray. Brant, a charismatic officer in the Los Angeles Police Department, can safely be dubbed the fastest man of the Games, almost effortlessly sealing gold in the 100m with a time of 10.88s. His compatriots Jennifer Kowacz and Sara Shisslak, firefighters in Phoenix, Arizona, were not to be outdone, both sealing gold medals in their respective age groups at the hammer throw. Indeed Sara is now looking ahead to taking part in the Toughest Competitor Alive event next week. No further explanation required on that one.

Through the day many people followed the progress of Brendan McConville as he sailed through day two of the decathlon. Brendan, a firefighter at Knock in east Belfast, was winning overnight and looking to convert that lead into a home gold medal. The natural theatre provided by the terraced hills delivered a charged and involving atmosphere as Brendan put in an imperious display to win all five second-day events.

His day began with a solid win in the 100m hurdles and continued with a comfortable triumph in the pole vault. Then followed his best throws in years in the discus and javelin. It ended with a ruthless crushing of the field in the 1500m, Brendan clearly running for points and not just the victory, with the gold beyond any doubt by that stage. A fantastic victory was topped off by receiving his medal from his idol and former trainer Mike Bull, the local bodybuilding and fitness guru and previous Commonwealth champion.

Another fascinating aspect of these Games is watching people attempting to overcome monumental language barriers when trying to interact. As I listened to Germans speaking with Spaniards, Danes with Brazilians, it became evident that sport can be a powerful bridge between cultures and countries. After only two days, athletes are swapping contact details and vowing to pay overseas visits to each other’s homelands. Belfast, it seems, is a great place to make lifelong friends.

Find out about tomorrow at Track & Field: http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/track-field

listen to ‘Brendan McConville @nifrsofficial after securing decathlon gold @2013wpfg #wpfgsocialteam’ on Audioboo

Mountain Biking at world class Kilbroney Park

By Volunteer Rebecca McConnell

Day two of my volunteering with #wpfgmediateam and I found myself at a familiar venue but covering another unfamiliar sport - Cross country mountain biking at Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor. A native of South Down, I have long adored the beautiful views available in the forest park but the competitors today will have been more focused on the task in hand - a rough course with steep inclines and gold medals up for grabs.

The track for Cross Country was approximately 4km long and included natural technical single-track, fire road climbs and some fast trail centre single-track. It wasn't until the WPFG finished that I got an appreciation of the toughness of the course, taking a walk round and seeing for myself the hills, the bridges and small rivers they had to negotiate all on two wheels.

The cross country competition is split into age groups allowing competitors as old as 65 to take part as well as as young as 18. The atmosphere was buzzing and the music was bumping as the competitors raced off representing Canada, USA, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, NI and even Mongolia!

Dromore Cycling Club did a great job alongside WPFG volunteering keeping the times and calling out to competitors how many laps they had left. Most of the male classes completed 6 laps whilst the ladies completed 4.

NI Secretary of State Teresa Villiers arrived to catch some of the action and then was joined by WPFG Mascot, Emergency Eddie who posed happily with many of the family and spectators. 

Supporting their men were Ninni and Jenny all the way from Sweden. Their husbands work in the Fire Service in Sweden and this is the fourth Games they have taken part in. Jenny said, "The Games are great, it's such a lovely venue here in Kilbroney, we are staying in Kilkeel and getting to see the sights. We thought the opening ceremony in Belfast was the best we have seen, such a great atmosphere." Jenny' son baby Teo, only 8 months old was there too to support his Dad, a gold medallist in the Barcelona WPFG.

Brothers Dylan (10) and Alfie (8) Lewis came from County Tyrone to take part in the kids open races that were running alongside the WPFG races on a separate course. There were races for under 6, under 8s, under 10s and under 12s. Sponsor Chain Reaction Cycles also ran races for under 14s, under 16s and four Senior classes, these ran after the WPFG medal ceremony.

There were great cheers of support for all medal winners at the podium. Every medallist enjoyed celebrating their success with plenty of friendly hugs and many many photographs taken. PSNI celebrated home success with gold and silver medals in the both the men's and women's races.

The female PSNI silver and gold medal winner was visibly thrilled to have won in her home Games. "I am ecstatic. It was such a tough course to complete. I fell off one of the bridges and came off my bike, i think i have sprained my wrist. Unfortunately i will not now able to complete in the triathlon tomorrow, but as for the next Games, yes, Ill be there! Fairfax here we come!!"

Belfast born Keith Leinster, here representing Police Scotland, was happy with his bronze medal and praised the organisers for delivering on a great course. "They weren't afraid to make it good and technical which suited my kind of riding. After a slow start, I managed to catch a few people and claw my way back." Keith also caught up with some cyclists he used to train with that have now joined the emergency services.

Canadian Gold medallist (50-54 category) Ron, who couldn't compete in the NYC Games because Hurricane Irene meant the mountain biking competitions there had to be cancelled said, "I'm glad that is over! It was one of THE hardest courses I have done in a bike race. I was quite pleased to have won today! it's been a great event, fantastic atmosphere and competitor spirit." 

With all the cross country races completed today, the cycling action tomorrow will focus on downhill racing on the newly opened course at Kilbroney. Some WPFG competitors were practising the course today getting a feel for what they have to do tomorrow. Having had a sneaky peak at part of the course, all I can say is, if you want to see some spectacular sporting action on two wheels, get down to Kilbroney Park tomorrow!

Find out more about all of the cycling events at: http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/cycling

Cycling Road Race in Carrickfergus

By Volunteer Kathleen Cassidy

Arriving in a car amidst a sea of bikes was quite daunting as bikes were definitely the superior vehicle on the road today around  Carrickfergus. Battling my way through bikes and Lycra, to an extremely helpful event organisers team, where I managed to blag my way into the Chief Commissionaire vehicle to view the race.

Before everyone pedalled to Kilroot Power Station for the start I found some cheery competitors to chat to. First I found an Australian police veteran male duo who were checking over their bikes in preparation for the race. They both were relaxed about the race and were loving the games so far, with added beautiful scenery as bonus! I also spied a Garda Siochana female competitor warming up on her rollers (not hair but a bike placed on rollers so you can pedal as if on an exercise bike) and she was certainly putting pedal to the metal and the race hadn't even begun!

Piling into the commissionaire car we followed the 100 odd competitors to the start and then things got interesting. What people don't see in a race is the background work, the communication between each safety car, bikes and medics is a feat in itself. Cyclist-come-racing-car-driver (for the day) Johnny Bears was behind the wheel as he navigated in and out of the cyclists shouting out competitor numbers to Jack WIlson, Secretary for cycling Ireland and an International Official.

Jack explained "The 18 mile course is hilly and it's very windy today but any day is windy for a cyclist! Caroline Ryan is a strong rider and it’s no surprise she won the women's, she took the lead from very early on and was at least 12secs ahead of the pack. However she did compete in the Olympics and is an Irish International. But what was a surprise was how quickly in the last couple of km Mike Seguin from Chicago Fire caught up with her and won the men's veteran."

What was really great to see was all the supporters out along the 18mile course cheering and clapping and giving the competitors a real Northern Ireland welcome. Down Hill cyclists were doing up to 40mph and in the men's 50mph - it was amazing to see them whizz past in a blur of colours and resounding cheers.

Results can be found at www.2013wpfgfixturesandresults.com/fixtures/cyclingFix.htm

Find out more about the cycling at: http://www.2013wpfg.com/2013-sports/cycling