Trip to Olympic Park, London

At the end of June, Academic P.E. students travelled to the Olympic Park in London for the unique experience of track cycling in the velodrome.

On arrival, they were given a tour around this impressive £150 million facility. Whilst they were appreciating the media box and learning about how altitude, drag and heat affect performance and appreciating the legacy of London 2012, they were able to watch a couple of accomplished riders reaching some very high speeds on what is an intimidating track.

With the end zones being a 43 degree gradient, nerves and heart rates began to increase at the thought of riding bikes with no brakes and feet clipped in at high speeds around the velodrome. The group took the challenge well and within a few minutes of familiarising themselves with the bikes, they increased their pace and worked their way up to race around the top of the track. There were some impressive performances from the group, some of whom were identified as having great track cycling potential, although at up to £16,000 for tyres, perhaps it isn’t a sport accessible to everyone! complete The Crystal Maze Challenge, which is based around the 90’s TV show where teams aim to work together to complete the skill, mental and physical based challenges, together with solving mysteries within 4 zones – Industrial, Futuristic, Medieval and Aztec. All of these challenges are against the clock and the more challenges you successfully complete, the more crystals you win and the more time you have in the Crystal Dome.

The team, captained by Harry Maskell were fantastic and managed an impressive 12/16 crystals. Mrs Sim, Charlotte Houghton and Harry mastered the physical challenges, whilst Ciaran Curran and Miss Hannah were quick to solve the riddles and mental challenges. Annie McCarthy and Tom Roach were the calm and