Ross Capill’s Beijing Technical Official Race Report

Ross Capill, Cathi Davey and Marguerite Christophers gained a different view of the Beijing World Champs in their roles as Technical Officials.

Ross reports…..

Along with fellow club members Marguerite Christophers and Cathi Davey I was lucky enough to be part of the Technical Official team for the Beijing World Champs.

Marguerite and I were on the same flights and after a bit of a panic making our connection in Auckland we arrived safely on the Sunday before the race. We were among the early arrivals and so there was a bit of confusion getting the transfers underway and checking in to our hotel but thanks to the volunteer translaters we got ourselves settled in.

As ITU’s Head of Paratri Classification, Marguerite was pretty much straight down to work, facilitating a classifiers course and then classifying athletes. I had Monday off so decided to head up to the Great Wall. The hotel advised me that the easiest way was just to take a cab which cost the equivalent of only $25. I was told that I didn’t need to get the cab to wait as I would be able to find another cab to come back without difficulty. So after a couple of hours clambering up and down steps (I can tell you the wall is very steep in places) I was ready to fall into a cab and head back for a shower and a well-earned beer.

Click here to read the rest of Ross’ account of what life as a technical official behind the scenes at a major international race was like.