Commonwealth Games - Glasgow 2014

After missing out on London 2012 tickets I made sure I applied for Glasgow 2014 asap. I missed out on Cycling tickets but got Netball, Badminton and Squash, three sports that I love. I couldn't believe it so started looking for accommodation asap and £300 per night for a Travelodge erm no thanks. I ended up booking a lovely little B&B in Stirling - http://www.craigardstirling.co.uk/

Just before the Games started I got an email informing me about more Games tickets available so I had a look and purchased Athletics tickets. Happy days 4 events in two days bring it on!!!

We decided to drive up on the West and back home along the East coast staying at Whitby for a few days to relax after the crazy days in Glasgow and Stirling.

This also helped with finding a few more Gold Post boxes. On the way North we found both Jason Kenny and Bradley Wiggins boxes, plus a little stop off to see the football grounds for Bolton Wanderers FC and Blackburn Rovers FC.

Jason Kenny - Men's Team Sprint

More pictures on Instagram.

From here a quick drive up past Gretna and Glasgow to the B&B in Stirling. After a little nights sleep it was straight on the train into Glasgow for the First Event on Saturday 26th July England v Australia in the Netball preliminary rounds. All that needs to be said is WOW!!! What a match. My phone didn't stop buzzing with messages off friends, family and clients who were hooked watching the match. It ended with a very narrow and gutting defeat for England, final score England 48 - Australia 49. The next match was Scotland v New Zealand and it was a master class from New Zealand with a huge 68-26 victory.

England V Australia 26/7/14 SECC Glasgow 2014

We then had a couple of hours gap so had a little walk around Glasgow city centre before getting the train out to the Scotstoun Sports Campus for the Squash. Here we saw some of the best players from around the world playing a sport that deserves to be an Olympic sport. The players have amazing speed, strength, flexibility and CV systems. One match lasted 5 sets taking 92 minutes to finish, playing squash for longer than a football match! Having played squash for years as a child I have the highest respect for the elite players as they are incredible.

Squash in the amazing glass court - Scotstoun Sports Campus 26/7/14 Glasgow 2014

We got back to the B&B at 1 am for a massive 4 and a half hours sleep waking up at 5:30 to be on the train in time for the Badminton on the Sunday morning. Off to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome for the Emirates Arena. It is a really impressive modern venue with a back drop of Celtic Park just behind, a relaly good vision of the old and new for Glasgow. The badminton was amazing with the Mixed team event between Malaysia and Singapore. Some of the top players in an incredibly fast sports battling it out in the Semi-finals. It was really nice to see the Malaysian team all wearing black armbands for the people horribly taken away on flight MH17. Malaysia won the matches 3-2 and they deserved it playing the better badminton.

Badminton Mixed Team Semi Finals - Glasgow 2014 27/7/14

We then had a mad scramble back into the city centre and out to Hampden Park for the Athletics. We made it in time to see Bethy Woodward claim Silver in the T37/38 women's long jump. As well as seeing Adam Gemili flying in the 100m preliminary round. We were gutted Mo Farah had pulled out of the 5000m as the stadium would have gone crazy for him, but if you're unwell you can't compete at your best. Seeing the men's shot put, women's hammer and the women's 100/400m preliminary rounds was so interesting from a work point of view while being incredibly entertaining from as a spectator too. 

Hampden Park glowing in the sun for the Athletics. 27/7/14 - Glasgow 2014.

It had been a crazy couple of days watching some of the Worlds best sports stars performing in an amazing event. Time for a little chill in Whitby but first a few more Gold Post boxes as I don't know when I will next be in Scotland so Andy Murray and Sir Chris Hoy's were found. A nice drive down the East coast and the beach was calling us. 

Bring on the next major sporting event for the UK to show the World how good we are.