3 posts tagged “cycling”

Somewhere around the end of October I had a phone call from my brother (Darren Kenny), he had been invited to take part in a Gold Medal Who Wants to be a Millionaire? special and wondered if I could be a Phone a Friend. To take part he needed to provide five friends and with the money going to the Piam Brown Child Cancer Ward at Southampton Hospital how could I refuse.

The show was filmed on a weekday afternoon and as the day came nearer I was scheduled to run a training course, a quick discussion with the customer and they understood that I might need to nip out for a few minutes towards the end of the day. After lunch on the day of filming Darren set a quick text to say they had finished rehearsals and they would start filming soon. Everyone in the classroom was on tender hooks in the afternoon and as the session closed my mobile phone went off. Rushing into a side room to answer, it was from a researcher just checking that I was still available if needed and to go through the rules:

The Rules

1. Make sure I kept the line free for the next 2 hours
   
2. I was to let the phone ring for 5 rings
3. Chris would introduce himself
4. I would then have 30 seconds with Darren where he will ask me the question
5. I was not allowed to confer with anyone during that time
6. I was not allowed to consult reference material
7. I was not allowed to look up the answer on the internet

If they thought that broke rules 4-6 then Darren and his partner would forfeit everything and their designated charities would get nothing.

After agreeing all I could was wait, after 3 hours Darren texted me to say he had finished recording and that they used another friend as it was a Geography question.

The episode was shown on the 29th December on ITV1, Darren and Liz Jonson (Paralympic Swimmer) raised £10,000 for their charities.

"I am going to catch up on four years of sleep" that was the plan revealed this morning by Darren on BBC breakfast. It has been a hectic few weeks, not only for Darren but for all of the ParalympicsGB athletes in Beijing.

They arrived back yesterday in a Gold nosed British Airways plane to cheering crowds at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The athletes were 'released' in small groups to allow time for photographs and Darren barely had time to snatch a hug and kiss from the family before being whisked off to a photo op. Family then went to the first class lounge to wait. After a while they were back for another round of hugs and kisses before off for a press conference. Press conference over and almost 2 hours after the plane had landed the athletes finally belonged to their families again and it was time to prepare for the journey home. For some it was on to another plane, for others there was long drive ahead, the lucky ones were already close to home.

From a family point of view a big thank you to the British Airways staff for all their help and hospitality during the waiting times.

Well, not me but the British Paralympic Cycling Team. Over 4 days of racing in the Laoshan Velodrome ParalympicsGB were contesting 13 medals across the classes they finished with 12 Golds and 1 Silver. Friday is the start of the Road events, looking for Gold in the shadow of the great wall

My brother is a member of the cycling team and I run his website Darren Kenny, Paralympic Cyclist. I dropped him off at the airport to meet up with some of the cycling team on their way out to Beijing, took my camera with me and managed to take a few photos of the team as they waited to set off.

ParalympicTeamGB-28

ParalympicTeamGB-25