SUNKEN MANHOLE covers update. All eight on a 2.5km stretch of the Box Hill circuit were filled in – given a top coat of tarmac to make the sunken drains level with the road within hours of my reporting the problem to Olympic Games cycling manager Simon Lillistone on the eve of the race. And so the London – Surrey Cycle Classic on Sunday August 14 flew over the Box Hill roads without incident.
Did my call save the day? Who can say? I don’t expect Simon to give me that satisfaction. And Surrey may have been about to do it all along, late as it was.
But it’s history now. And history will recall that the event was a huge success, as 148 world cycling stars raced through London and around Surrey, watched by tens of thousands of people lining the route.
And British star Mark Cavendish won on The Mall.
Brilliant.
Now the organisation must review the workings of the most difficult Olympic event to organise, involving as it does massive road closures in West London and the densely populated county of Surrey. Was the disruption properly explained to local people and businesses?
Lots of complaints in comments posted to news websites. How many were valid, how many were just the usual moaners pitching in with negative comments, the sports haters, et al?
I don’t recall many complaints following the Tour de France visits to southern England in 1994 and London and SE England in 2007.
I loved the test event, the carnival atmosphere in my town, as neighbours released from their usual chores, lined roads quiet since dawn. Strangers chatted with each other, some revealing that although they aren't cycle racing fans as such, they do enjoy watching the TV coverage of the Tour de France.
There was expectancy; the subtle relaxed change in the local environment that cycle road racing brings to an area.
I was delighted to catch a fleeting glimpse of France’s veteran Olympic champion Jeannie Longo speeding through, given special permission to ride the route ahead of the race.
The race announcer swept through, paused to tell us a breakaway group of four had six minutes lead.
Ten minutes later, at last, the police outriders, lead cars, then the four men, rushing by to applause.
And some five minutes after, whoosh, the whole bunch spread gutter to gutter, dividing to run either side of centre refuges, hit town to applause from the crowds. And the convoy of following team cars, official cars were hot on their wheels, followed by lone riders snaking their way through after punctures, presumably.
And I heard of one person hit by a plastic bottle thrown by a rider! Souvenir!
And it was gone. Quiet descended. Time to pop in to the local church down the road, where they were serving tea and bacon butties to mark the occasion.
Oh, one more thing. Only one bit of road graffiti spotted when I rode over the course next day.
Somewhere near Box Hill, couldn’t make it out.
But there were two or three stencilled messages in support of Team GB for 2012 on the Zig Zag.
Nothing for the local authority to complain about, I’m sure. Probably wash off.
But let’s look at the bigger picture.
The thing is no one in their right minds would want to run a road race route like this one, with the potential to stitch up so many heavily populated areas.
Running the race through once to another destination, like a Tour stage is one thing, when roads can be opened soon after its passage. But to describe a huge loop, then run it back over the same roads from 12 miles out meant locking up a huge area for many hours longer.
In reality, the road races could have been staged outside London.
Except this is the London Olympics! And Lord Coe wanted as many events as possible located in the capital.
And why not? It’s a one-off show, perhaps a once in a life time experience. A big show, the greatest sporting show on earth.
Unless, like a lot of people, you consider the Olympics to be the most costly hyped up waste of money.
Hopefully, the Olympic organisers will allow more spectators to see the race on Box Hill next year, when the men’s race cover not two but nine laps, almost half the full race distance around this 15km circuit, while the women do two laps.
So few people were allowed on the Zig Zag climb last Sunday, the race climbed in meditative silence until nearer the top where “caged” enclosures of spectators broke the deafening silence.
If they can’t relax the restrictions – the National Trust is understandably protective of this SSSI – they should find another circuit. Plenty of other hills in Surrey.
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