Young athletes carry kit for world’s fastest men (From Haringey Independent)
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Young athletes carry kit for world’s fastest men
11:01am Thursday 9th August 2012 in News By Bruce Thain
The team of volunteers from Enfield & Haringey Athletics Club
Young athletes volunteering at the Olympic park were given the role of athletic kit carriers for the 100metre final on Sunday.
The ten members of Enfield & Haringey Athletics Club, all aged 16 or 17, carried the kits of the fastest men in the world in the Olympic Stadium for the Games most famous event.
Julie Brown, team manager of young athletes at the club, signed the team up as part of the Games Makers volunteer programme and also walked out with the kit carriers on the night of the final.
She said: “It was a fantastic event. The atmosphere was unbelievable and I’ve never experienced anything like it.
“It was pure luck we were chosen for the 100m final, because teams are assigned to different events alphabetically. When we found out we were doing that race we we’re all screaming and we were all so excited.”
As there were only eight runners taking part in the race not all of the young athletes were able to go carry kits but despite this Ms Brown told all ten of the team to go out.
She said: “I just told them to keep walking until they were told to stop, but no one said anything so we all got to enjoy the atmosphere.”
Member of the Enfield and Haringey Athletics club Andre Coggins had the honour of carrying the kit of the fasted, man in the word Usain Bolt.
The 17-year-old 800 metre runner said: “It was the most incredible experience of my life. Just to be in that stadium and in that atmosphere was unbelievable.
“When we were out there and you could hear all the cheers from the crowd I was a bit nervous. I thought I had to race.
“Just being the presence of the fastest men in the world has really inspired me and I definitely will be training as hard as I can to get to Rio in 2016.”
The team from the athletics club were part of the army of 70,000 volunteers who have helped at the games with Wednesday being their last day at the Olympic Park.
