Games plan

SITTING in the reception at Middlesbrough Football Club’s Rockliffe Park training ground, a potential Pre-Olympic Games training camp, the 2012 Games in London seem an awfully long way away.

In terms of time, the gap, which is currently 1,011 days and counting, will shrink. But in terms of geographical distance, the span of 250 miles between Rockliffe and the main Olympic site in Stratford will remain resolutely unchanged between now and the opening ceremony on July 27, 2012.

Bridging it is arguably the biggest challenge facing Locog, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Forget building an entire Olympic Park in east London on time and on budget. Convincing the rest of the country that their taxes and National Lottery contributions have not gone to waste could well determine whether Britain’s first Olympics for more than half-acentury are deemed a success or not.

“The International Olympic Committee awards the Olympics and Paralympics to a city, but since we won the Games back in 2005, it’s always been about much more than that to us,”

said Locog chief executive Paul Deighton, during a whistle-stop tour of the region yesterday that also saw him visit Hartlepool Marina and address a seminar at Hardwick Hall Hotel.

“It is an absolutely fundamental objective for us to make sure that these Games are regarded as the whole nation’s Games.

“For us, it’s always been about how we get the 60 million people in the United Kingdom to feel that it’s their Games, and lay out to them the ways they can get involved.

“There are many different ways in which people around the country can get involved.

There’s real stuff happening, and yet we’re still three years away from the Games. In some sense, the really exciting period is still to come, but we have all the roots in place that are already beginning to produce some fruit.”

But will that fruit be succulent enough to win over a region that, apart from the staging of football matches at St James’ Park, in Newcastle, will see little direct return from its financial investment in the Games?

Deighton thinks so, and yesterday’s tour was designed to flag up many of the key initiatives that will help pull the regions to the heart of the Olympic programme.

The provision of pre-Games training camps is one of the main ways the rest of the country will be involved in London’s Games, and yesterday’s announcement that Durham University will host the Sri Lankan Olympic squad followed hot on the heels of confirmation that the Colombian Olympic squad will also be based in the North-East in the build-up to 2012.

The financial benefits of hosting squads of about 60 competitors and 30 support staff will be minimal, but the educational, social and cultural opportunities that will go hand in hand with the training camps should be significant.

Having signed a training-camp agreement with Manchester, the Australian swimming squad are already hosting regular training sessions with the city’s children, and similar events involving the Sri Lankan and Colombian elite squads are planned here.

“There is economic stimulus that comes directly from a training camp, but I think it’s the sense of inspiration and being part of the Games that’s important,” said Judith Rasmussen, regional director of Sport England North-East.

“It’s also about trying to build cultural links with the countries involved. It’s not just about 2012 – countries tend to come for a couple of years beforehand and that makes it possible to start establishing strong links.”

THE Cultural Olympiad, a range of cultural events designed to tie in with the Games, will also involve North-East organisations, while Locog’s volunteering programme will help train some of the most disadvantaged people in a range of skills that should increase their employment prospects, as well as enabling them to volunteer during the Games.

The Inspire Programme will help North-East non-commercial projects and events to establish a direct link with the Games, and Locog is involved in a major push that should see more of the region’s businesses winning contracts at various stages of the Olympic supply chain.

To date, 18 North-East firms have won Olympic contracts, and only last month it was confirmed that Severfield Rowen, based in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, has been selected to provide steel fabrication for the basketball and handball arenas on the main Olympic site.

“There’s a big industrial base here in the North-East which is a natural competitor for some of the things we’re doing,” said Deighton.

“Much more, frankly, than there is in London, given the history there is in the North-East for engineering businesses in particular.

“So, aside from the fact that there will be an Olympic Park that we’ll be leaving behind, the issues for businesses here in the North-East are much the same as they are in London.

“Can businesses take the experience of supplying us and use it to help them elsewhere?

Once you’ve supplied an Olympic Games, you’re pretty much up to anything because of the immovable deadlines and scale and complexity of the event. If you can do that, you’re a pretty accomplished business.”

Further business opportunities will emerge in the run-up to the Games, but for the majority of North-Easterners, the Olympics will effectively begin and end during the two weeks of competition.

For many, the success of the Games will be determined by the availability of tickets, and the affordability of a trip to London to watch the Olympic action. Amid scare stories of travel chaos and extortionate hoteliers, Deighton is keen to assure North-Easterners they will not be forgotten when ticketing and travel plans are put in place.

“One of the major issues with the regional aspect of the Games is the issue of accessibility and affordability,” he said. “When you’re looking at getting people to come to the Games, you can’t just look at the ticket price. You have to look at the all-in cost of a weekend in London for the family.

“We have to look at all the components and make that affordable. We’ll work with the train companies to figure out just how they’re going to price and provide a service.

“We have one or two schemes in mind that will enable us to put together packages. People already come to London for a night in a hotel and a visit to the theatre, so we’ll also be looking at doing something similar that will include a day at the Games. We’re adamant that the Olympics will be inclusive to all.”