London 2012 Olympics Tickets Tours Hotels: Cycling Race a Test for London 2012 Organisers

http://www.london-tours-2012.com/
http://www.london2012-tours.com/
http://www.london-olympiad.com/

British cyclist Mark Cavendish
is a favourite to win gold next summer

Ever since London 2012 organisers unveiled the fetching velodrome, England is abuzz with cycling news. Spyns not only offers London 2012 tours, but we're also a leader in Tour de France tours (http://www.tdf-tours.com/) so blogging about two wheels feels rather natural. A test event will be held over the Olympic road race course on August 14, London 2012 organisers have confirmed. The Surrey Cycle Classic, a UCI-approved race, will put the route, which takes in nine laps of a Box Hill circuit before finishing in front of Buckingham Palace on The Mall, through its paces before the Games arrive in London in July 2012. The course was announced earlier this month.

The full details of the Surrey Cycle Classic are yet to be announced but the event, which will sandwich the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, is only expected to tackle three laps of Surrey's iconic Box Hill - a 166m climb. London 2012 organisers have announced details of the full test event programme, with the newly opened velodrome set to host next year's Track World Cup on February 17-19 in place of Manchester, which held the 2011 event last weekend. And the mountain bike course will host the Hadleigh Farm International on July 31, 2011.


London 2012 chairman, Lord Sebastian Coe, said: "Our approach to operational delivery is similar to that of an athlete. You do not want to face any conditions at competition time that you have not prepared for. When the world’s greatest Olympic and Paralympic athletes come to London in the summer of 2012, every aspect of our delivery needs to be the best it can be. "The invaluable experience we gain through our testing programme means we can 'road-test' all our operational plans and make sure we have all the knowledge we need to deliver a truly memorable Games in 2012."


We applaud their efforts to highlight cycling as a premiere sport. While basketball, swimming, and athletics (track & field) are among biggest draws, thanks to one Lance Armstrong and host of medal-worth British riders, organisers are right to promote everything two-wheeled. While the velodrome was finished on schedule, methinks ticketing may be a tad more complicated. But Spyns London 2012 clients will just have to wait until March 15.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets Hotels and Tours: Summer Games to Volunteers: "We want you...er, no we don't."

http://www.london-tours-2012.com/
http://www.london2012-tours.com/
http://www.london-olympiad.com/

"We volunteered. Now where are
our bloody London 2012 tickets!"

As London 2012 organisers scramble to get Summer Olympics tickets figured out, some bold ticket-related initiatives are quietly being scrapped. Case in point: the volunteers in exchange for tickets plan. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of the London 2012 ticket committee. I can almost smell the sweat, Red Bull, and yes perhaps a whiff of urine as panick sets in. Tick tock boys and girls!

A scheme to use the Olympics to get people to volunteer in their local communities has been scrapped, the Culture Department has said. Following severe government cuts, the UK's culture department now consists of one Welsh man, a telephone, and a monkey named "Londoneye." The national 25th Hour campaign was launched at the Olympic Park last March by the then Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and London 2012 chairman Lord Coe. As a thank-you for giving up their time for community work, devoted volunteers were promised to be in line for one of the 2,012 pairs of tickets for the dress rehearsal for the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Alas the scheme has gone the way of the Dodo.

The 25th Hour campaign was based on the idea that everyone can find an extra hour or more to make a difference. The tickets were to have been among a range of Olympic-themed awards for "exceptional time givers". The new Government is now hoping that the Places People Play scheme will bolster grassroots projects and events. A Culture Department spokesman said: "After careful consideration, the Government has decided not to continue the 25th Hour Programme. "Instead, the focus going forward will be on getting more people involved in sport as volunteers and coaches, through the Places People Play initiative. The new Sports Leaders Scheme aims to recruit, train and deploy 40,000 new volunteers to help organise sports activities in their communities."

 The 25th Hour was separate to London 2012's volunteer programme which this week began interviews to recruit 70,000 people to help the Games run smoothly. We at Spyns London 2012 tours (shameless plug) wonder why the games rely so heavily on volunteers. You don't see anyone volunteering a building, loaning equipment for free, or providing construction services at cost now do you?

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Beach Volleyball Venue Under Pressure

http://www.london2012-tours.com/
http://www.london-tours-2012.com/
http://www.london-olympiad.com/

We're just 18 months away from the London 2012 summer games. As Spyns clients count down to July 2012, British organizers have set an ambitious schedule for beach volleyball. The frenzy of work essentially constructing a gigantic sand pit will be concentrated during the day - as nearby neighbours including the official residence of the Prime Minister in Downing Street won't want to be disturbed. But preparations for that site in the heart of London and the controversial Greenwich Park site for equestrian have already begun.

Underneath both the 20,000 tonnes of sand at the beach volleyball and the massive showjumping and dressage arena will be huge metal decks, currently being manufactured in Preston. The decks are to ensure a flat surface, particularly important at the 20,000 seat Greenwich arena which has a significant fall line of about three metres. ''To construct a 15,000 seat venue usually involves a year to 18 months planning and to construct it normally takes a year to 18 months but for these Olympic venues the preparation is the same, but the construction is much, much quicker,'' said Drivers Jonas Deloitte project team manager Stephen Jepson.

''Horse Guards is six weeks to get on site after the Trooping the Colour is complete and Greenwich Park is a bit more time, but the aim is to make sure we take as little of the park for as small a time as public so the stadium goes up and then the site is expanded out.'' Jepson said constructing the venues with seating and toilets and other paraphenalia is business as usual, but it is the field of play at both venues that adds to the complexity.


The metal deck underneath the equestrian arena has been tested by both showjumpers and dressage riders at Berkshire and found to be acceptable, alleviating earlier concerns it may reverberate and scare the horses with any unusual sensation or noise. When installed the metal decking will be covered with layers of synthetic mix of track. ''The spring and bounce has to be exactly like it is on the ground,'' Jepson said. The same project team will also construct the temporary venues at the Mall for the start and finish of the marathon and road cycling and Hyde Park for the triathlon finish and marathon swimming events.


Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Summer Olympics: Hotels and Politics Don't Mix

www.london2012-tours.com
www.london-tours-2012.com

London recently lost a bid to host the 2018 World Cup. A backlash was inevitable but little did we think it would result in bouncing international soccer federation (called "Fifa") VPs from London 2012 hotels. Fifa president Sepp Blatter may be bumped from the swank Dorchester Hotel, not because of a fit of pique from Mayor of London Boris Johnson, but because international dignitaries may pull rank.

Mr Johnson, who initially claimed Fifa executives would not be welcome at the Dorchester Hotel following England’s embarrassing two votes for the 2018 World Cup, has now said it is up to the London Olympic organisers to deal with accommodation issues. Johnson told Inside The Games: “The Dorchester Hotel business is really a matter for Locog and I’m sure they’ll make their decision on the best possible basis. “It’s no secret that we are very upset with Fifa though.”

But it is understood that Locog has received an overwhelming flood of applications including from Fifa but also from other VIP’s and embassies who may want to house visiting politicians and their mandarins at the swish hotel. Anybody who is accommodated at the Dorchester, and other leading London hotels, through the London organisers has to pay for their room. “We have had more applications than rooms available,” a Locog spokesperson said. “We haven’t allocated any rooms to anyone at this stage.”


The Olympic rate is based on a three-year average of the rack rate, which at the Dorchester, with its marble finishes and four-poster bed suites, can eclipse £1,000 a night (roughly $1600/night). Only athletes staying at the athletes’ village are given Olympic accommodation free of charge. Fifa officials have stayed at the hotel previously, including during the official evaluation period of England’s bid last summer.


Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.