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'My Corduroyed Life' - Mark A's Journal
Thought this might be worth posting as a curiosity…
As regular readers will know, I am on a writing course at the moment, with aspirations of being the next big thing in Mills & Boon writing. My first assignment was ‘write about a sporting event in 500 words’ just so they can assess where the student’s writing level is.
So here is my assignment on the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain:
There is nothing quite like the Speedway World Championships, and there is certainly nothing like going to one of the Grand Prix in your home country!
Speedway is motorbike racing around a short, oval, dirt track, and is the sport that is infamous for its bikes without brakes or gears; just a clutch and a throttle. The races are fast and furious, and to maintain maximum speed, the riders have to powerslide their bikes into the turns. The action has four riders in a ‘heat’ and they have to race for points (3 for a win, 2 for a second, 1 for a third, and 0 for a last). The points add up, and the riders with the highest points at the end of the night battle it out in the finals for who wins the meeting (and gains the most championship points).
From when you arrive at Cardiff and get ushered into the overflow car park that is normally used by Cardiff City FC, you know that this is a major sporting event; despite the fact that speedway is considered a niche sport. The moment you leave your car, you hear them: hundreds of them. Airhorns. Hundreds and hundreds of airhorns toot toot tooting! Something of a speedway staple, you know you’re in the right place!
Like any major sporting event, the atmosphere is something that you have to experience to truly understand and appreciate. The entire City Centre of Cardiff is overrun with gleeful fans wearing face paint or waving chequered flags or the flag of their nation – sometimes even wearing them as a cape or sarong! Speedway fans are a special type of people: enthusiastic and unendingly loyal to their favourite riders from their country, but a friendly bunch. Random Poles or Norwegians will come over to you in the pubs around Cardiff and express an opinion about your countries riders, and you can do the same to Aussies, Swedes or Danes. It’s such a great feeling to be part of International community who love their sport, and enjoy banter with people who support other riders and nations.
Once your ears are accustomed to the frequent toots of the airhorns, there is another sense accosted once you enter the arena. The smell of the bike fuel, a special type of petroleum referred to as ‘dope’, hits your nostrils and there is nothing quite like it! It’s almost intoxicating, and adds to the ambience: you know you’re at a speedway meeting when you’ve smelt that smell. Then you hear the roar of the engines, and you know you’re going to see some serious power from some serious bikes!
The Millennium Dome is quite the venue for a sporting event: huge and every seat is the best seat in the house! The racing is inevitably amazing as these are the best riders in the world, and it’s a unique and wonderful experience to see them from an angle or height you’d never get at your average speedway track (usually around a Greyhound Racing track). Beyond that, world class riders racing with everything they have for points in the world title race, coupled with an impressive amount of razzamatazz that just cannot be ignored, ensure that you simply cannot go away disappointed.
You come out with all your senses buzzing: so much better than watching it on Sky Sports!
Have fun,
M x
Current mood:
okay.Current music: Spaceman by Babylon Zoo.