Athletes line up for games

Hundreds of athletes were taking part today in the Wenlock Olympian games.

Competitors were taking part in a host of sporting activities, which continue tomorrow.

Tomorrow, 120 triathletes will jump into the pool at Bridgnorth Leisure Centre before cycling to Much Wenlock and competing in a circular road race.

Competitors from across the county were expected to gather in the birthplace of the modern Olympic movement today and tomorrow as they bowl, cycle, swim, run and shoot hit their way to glory.

The games are due to conclude on Monday with a golf tournament.

The weekend will be packed with sporting events, including archery, fencing, tennis, triathlon, road and cycle races and track and field competitions.

The games got under way in earnest at 9.30am when the tennis competition got under way, closely followed by the badminton and bowls events.

Tomorrow will see the best of the action when 120 triathletes will jump into the pool at Bridgnorth Leisure Centre at 7.30am before cycling to Much Wenlock and then dragging their tired limbs around a circular road race.

The fencing will start at 9.30am, the athletics at 10.15am, the seven-mile road race and archery at 11am, the five-a-side football at 12.30pm, the veterans’ cycle race at 1pm and the clay pigeon shooting at 2.30pm.

The event of sporting events will conclude on Monday with a golf tournament at Muxton.

The games were meant to start last Sunday with an invitation cricket match but the rain meant the game had to be postponed.

The rescheduled match has been pencilled in for August 3, although the date is still to be confirmed.

A volleyball competition was also staged on Wednesday.

Peter Thompson, secretary of the Wenlock Olympian Society, said everything was going to plan.

“We’re expecting good weather all weekend, which is a bonus, and we’re all really looking forward to Sunday which is the big day,” he said.

“All of the events are full up which is fantastic news.

“We’re not looking to break any records, but we will have a full programme of events.

“Sebastian Coe’s visit on Thursday got everyone in the mood and he told us after his visit to the archives in the Town Hall he had seen copies of the correspondence between Dr William Brookes and Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was a student at Loughborough University.”