Last week saw the 2012 Asda Athletes workshop come to Manchester, and we went along to manage the PR.
Fresh from Wembley where the workshop had been held the day before with Olympic star, Kriss Akabusi, the tour team arrived at the Etihad stadium (venue was much to my disgust…) to meet the most promising athletes from the region!
The purpose of the day was for all of the up and coming sporting hopefuls, who are sponsored by Asda and Sportsaid, to be given advice on how to be successful, today’s special guest was no other than GB Olympic gold medallist, Darren Campbell.
We invited the media along so they could check out what we were doing, offering them interview opportunities with the sporting hopefuls and Darren. BBC North West Tonight and the legendary Trevor Baxter from the Manchester Evening News came along and got stuck in to discuss our athletes, Darren Campbell and 2012 Olympics.
Darren spent an hour talking to the athletes about his Olympic journey, offering advice on the best approach in both physical skill and attitude. He talked about his lowest point being dropping the baton in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics. His career highlight was without a doubt when he won Olympic gold in Sydney, he passed both his silver and gold medals around the group of over 40 youngsters so they could experience the ultimate prize that they are all working so hard for!
After the star struck athletes fired their questions at Darren, we made our way through some very very blue corridors and out into the stadium. The athletes and Darren had a laugh while our photographer took action shots. BBC North West Tonight interviewed Darren where he told them about how similar support when he was a young athlete helped him to achieve his dreams. The younger athletes were then given a chance to have a taste of fame by also taking part in broadcast interviews.
It was a truly great day, with lots of inspiration for the future athletes to take away with them. And with some of them in the pipeline to feature in London 2012, watch this space…
By Jenni Bamford