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Visitors gather to watch the cyclists in action.
The Arena has already shown it is an excellent venue for major events.
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s nue i t n Co page on
4 0 FANTASTIC! DERBY Danny Butler entertaining visitors with his bike stunts.
LOVES ITS NEW ARENA! F
antastic! The word frequently used to describe Derby’s new Arena and velodrome by the public and the stars of the cycling world who are queuing up to make use of the flagship facility. Since the opening of the Arena, on 19th March, Derby City Council have been ‘unwrapping’ the new facility and inviting the public to a series of events and open days. Open days have proved extremely popular with large numbers of visitors passing through, looking for a taste of what is on offer. The cream of British cycling
talent is also keen to discover what the velodrome has to offer and Joanna Rowsell MBE, 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist in the team pursuit, is the latest to visit the city. “It looks fantastic,” she told the Derbyshire Guardian. “It’s nice to see a venue like this being built, not for a Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games, like London or Glasgow. It’s nice that it’s just been built as a venue to be used by the public and the community. “The track looks lovely and bright and smooth and there’s a lot of other uses for the Arena as well. There’s the Wattbikes Studio,
there’s the badminton courts, there’s a lot of different things going on. It looks like a really good venue.” Joanna was at the Arena to conduct a series of Wattbike (indoor cycling performance measuring) Master Classes and meet youngsters who will be the future of the sport. “It’s been a pleasure to come and meet kids and other cyclists that have got into the sport having watched 2012. It’s coming up to three years now, so there are a lot of people that are established riders, now, as a result of the Olympics, so that is really good to see.”
London 2012 was an enormous success for British cycling and Joanna was part of the successful Great Britain ladies pursuit team. Has 2012 changed her life? “Definitely! There are a lot more demands on my time. I’m recognised out and about. I never really expected things to change because I’d been world champion three times and world record holder, I’d won some of the biggest things in cycling, except for the Olympics. I never realised how much of a deal it would really be. Life’s definitely changed, but for the better, I’d say.”
Olympic gold medallist Joanna Rowsell says the Arena is ‘fantastic’.