The night played host to the finals of various categories from the juniors aged 7 & 8, schoolboys 13 to 16, the open class made up of professionals and amateur senior riders and finally the SX2 and SX1 races. Sandwiched between all the heats and finals for 2 wheel bikes there was even a race for quad bikes.

Riders travelled from all over the UK, USA, Canada and France. The youngsters were mainly from the UK however one particular American lad aged 11 had travelled from the USA and had clearly received media training dutifully thanking all his sponsors and parents.

The standard of riding from all the age groups was astounding with nobody holding back. The pros were hitting the jumps and getting a good 3m height before returning to earth and turning hard to make the next corner. For the 7 & 8 year olds on their 5cc machines the jumps were more like mountains for them as they climbed up the front side before disappearing off the much steeper back side of the jumps.

The professional riders had some equally entertaining characters including 19 year old Steven Clarke originally from Rochdale but now lives on his 50 acre estate in Georgia, USA. Clarke had travelled to Liverpool back to the USA and back to London in the week before the event.

The winner of the SX1 final, Heath Voss, had been the 2004 World Champion before spending the next 5 years in the United States Air Force as an F15 and F16 pilot.

It would appear that Supercross is no stranger to some good old pushing and shoving and this was no more apparent than in the SX2 final where Steven Clarke took on Cedric Soubeyras from France. The two had an extremely close race over the 10 laps leaning on, and elbowing, each other throughout. It culminated in an amazing final lap when they finished half a bike length apart over the finish jump with the Rochdale lad coming out on top.

Due to the TFL hiccup the start of the race was delayed by an hour, which enabled everyone to get organised. Race conditions were pretty grim, with the cold, rain, and sleet failing to let up for the entire morning. The race was supposedly flat – but we can all attest that climbing the height of the Greenwich Hill twice in one route does definitely not constitute that!

The aim of the run was to show that music is an additional motivation when running, so there were 17 stages set up around the course with bands playing songs which were consistent with the scientific research. The correct beats per minute to maximise your pace and oxygen intake for the stage in the run. Most of us ran with ipods to our own playlists, which was lucky as you only heard the bands for 30 seconds as you flew by.

All 10 of our starters finished the race in very competitive and determined styles, with one even managing a quick breakfast stop at KFC en route…

Competitors were; Jamie Hay: 01.31, Helen Caswell: 01.37, Charlie Fordham: 01.39, Gareth Evans: 01.42, Jacob Steele: 01.44, Oonagh Crotty: 01.48, Kirsty Thomas: 01.48, Mark Waller: 02.05, Andy Edge: 02.10, Eduardo McIntosh: 02.48.

The O2 arena has beaten off all competition to be voted both Best New Concert Venue and Best International Arena of the Year at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards last night in LA.
Accepting the awards David Campbell, CEO of AEG Europe, owners and operators of The O2, quoted Linkin Park, who recently played the arena, ‘Leave it to London to build the biggest, baddest venue in the world.’ He went on to thank Mr Anschutz and team for ‘their vision and for all 2000 employees, agents promoters and managers who have made this work.’