London 2012.
SOME FANTSTIC 2012 NEWS FOR US...
I'm delighted to annouince that Coventry & Warwickshire have had 11 of the 13 venues which we submitted to LOCOG accepted for inclusion in the guidebook for overseas contries looking for training camps ahead of the 2012 Games. All National OLympic Committees will receive details of our sites via the book at the Beijing games in August.
And now a little history lesson as to how this was made possible...
The City of Coventry Ambassadors Group has been integral to the development of local interest in this project since long before London actually won the bid in July 2005.
Sports development, tourism, culture, business and the initial idea of athlete training camps have all come on apace in the meantime and Coventry was awarded the honour of hosting the prestigious 2007 UK Schools Games as a direct result of the ambassadors initiative to ensure that the 2012 project was followed through.
Contacts have been made with overseas countries looking to find a western European training base with a view to them using the area from 2007 onwards, not just 2012. Companies with strong specific overseas links (i.e. Ricoh and Japan) are being explored. The official training camp submission to LOCOG was made in late January 2007. All locations have passed the first LOCOG vetting procedure in 2007 and we have now found that 11 of the 13 venues (pleasesee top paragraph for subsequent progress) .
Coventry has joined forces with Warwickshire in this project to ensure the maximum potential is gleaned from the sub-region.
The Coventry & Warwickshire 2012 partnership has already sponsored the Natonal Duathlon Championships at Draycote Water (one of the thirteen locations frowarded to LOCOG as potential training camps) and the European Race Walking Cup in Leamington.
A sub-regional co-ordinator, Tom Clift, has been appointed to oversee the project.