Olympic Legacy in Action at the AWRC Heptathlon
“We want to bring the WHOLE of the Olympic Legacy Park to life including the AWRC over one weekend in June”.
When this email from Tom at Yorkshire Sport landed in our inbox back in December, June seemed like a long way away. Nevertheless, we immediately grabbed the sharpies and started planning. It had been a long time coming.
The AWRC opened in January 2020 and was open for only three months before the first Covid lockdown struck. Over the following two years, while research activity continued, it was conducted within a strict framework of Covid restrictions. Bringing participants into the building was only possible in exceptional circumstances, and only when meeting a long list of strict criteria. Opening the doors to the public was completely off limits for what felt like a very long time.
Our vision, ‘to transform lives through innovations that help people move’ could not be achieved without strong community engagement. While we – along with the rest of the world – quickly transitioned into the virtual world of online seminars, virtual workshops and, later, hybrid events, nothing quite matched the buzz of a good old fashioned on-site community event. With bunting, of course.
The proposal from Tom on that dark December day finally presented the long-awaited opportunity to open the doors to the public. The festival was to be a celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the London 2012 Olympics. As the research hub for the Olympic Legacy project – the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine in Sheffield – a significant proportion of our work is about translating research from elite sport into population health and of course promoting physical activity. This would be the perfect opportunity to bring our research to life.
On Saturday, 18th June 2022, the AWRC joined sports heavyweights and community groups (including Sheffield United FC, Sheffield Sharks, the Canal and Rivers Trust, Hallam Barbell, England Boxing, British Cycling and the Romano Jilo Dance Group) for what we hope (please Tom!) will be the first of many collaborative public events on the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.
#TeamAWRC debuted the AWRC Heptathlon – an event in which kids and young-at-heart adults participated in seven mini events and were awarded a winner’s medal upon completion. At each event, there were learning opportunities, with large visual exhibits explaining the science behind each sport and expert demonstrators who would bring the science to life and, perhaps most importantly, ensure everyone was having fun!
Over the course of the day, we welcomed around 600 people through the doors to take part in football, high jump, long jump, javelin, tennis, sprint and hurdles. Throughout the course of the day:
- Ten managed to Bend it like Beckham and hit a target in the corner of a goal (although it should be noted that our own Amanda Brothwell managed it not once but twice during set-up, and this activity will be renamed Bend it like Brothwell at all future events)
- Director Rob Copeland fired over 2000 tennis balls from our tennis ball canon to the delight of onlooking crowds (and to Rob, if we’re honest)
- The (soft) javelins were thrown so enthusiastically that all six required emergency repairs
- One participant managed to jump 2.70 metres from a standing start in the long jump – very impressive, but still a way off the world record of a mighty 3.71 metres!
- The queue for the event never once ceased in over five hours
The event was a resounding success, and truly embodied what the AWRC is about – not just encouraging physical activity, but ensuring it is accessible, educational, diverse and meaningful. Hundreds of children from Attercliffe, Darnall and the wider Sheffield region went home with a tennis ball (well we weren’t going to collect 2000 balls! ), a medal and an enthusiasm for physical activity this weekend. Hundreds of parents left knowing a bit more about what we do and ways they might engage with us and our research in future (and many of them with a medal too!).
We intend for this to be the first of many more public engagement events which will allow us to further build strong and meaningful connections with the local community and engage them in our research.
And we can only hope future events will be as much fun!
Jen Parry is Communications and Engagement Officer at the AWRC