View from the Editor: Bicycle races are coming your way - July 2007  

Readers, S&T has to confess that cycling hasn’t really been our bag since we were forced to ride along treacherous country roads, dodging tractors and stray sheep and the like as a child in order to get to school just the right side of late. And although we found Lance Armstrong’s autobiography (First Edition) extremely inspiring, bicycles to us we’re afraid are mere fripperies that make useful clothes horses in the spare room or take up too much space in the garage.
That said, we felt slightly nostalgic for the oil-stained ankles of our youth and considered it would be churlish to turn down an invitation to the start of the Tour de France (pictured right courtesy of Getty Images Sport/Bryn Lennon) earlier this month from our old muckers at Globecast. After all, we could attend the said sporting event without even going to France (which some may say is a bonus), and get to enjoy some more of the fine weather that the UK has had to offer us this summer. (Summer?! Pah! We demand a refund!)
(Incidentally, being invited to attend the start of the Tour de France in London put S&T in mind of being invited to the launch party for erstwhile teen popstars ‘S Club 7 in Miami’ back in the late 1990s. It was only upon enquiring whether the BBC would pick up the tab for our travel expenses that we realised the 'Miami' bit was part of the name of the band and not the location of the launch party – that actually being held at BBC Centre in London. Doh. It was still a good party though and we were home in time for EastEnders. Result! Not that the BBC ever paid us back for our tube ticket mind you.)

Beaucoup des transmissions

Moving back to the Tour de France, Globecast was in the big smoke as part of parent company Orange’s communications support for the 2007 event. Indeed, as part of its role delivering transmissions for the two-wheeled lycra roadfest, Globecast’s mobile units were due to be stationed at various points along the course from London through to the final stage in Paris, transmitting footage shot via motorcycle and helicopter by SFP (Société Française de Production) back to host broadcaster France Televisions’ production trucks at the finish line in high definition for the first time. Globecast was also tasked with providing unilateral satellite contribution feeds to the channel’s master control room in Paris and distributing the official World Feed of the Tour de France to rights holders throughout the world, on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). And if that little lot wasn’t enough, in addition to satellite broadcasting, the complete technical solution that Orange provided to the Tour de France was set to include:
(1) 1,500 temporary telephone lines to be deployed every day in the technical and press areas, ensuring that professionals had the same phone number throughout the entire event. (2) 'a la carte' internet access within the technical and press areas, enabling users to choose their bandwidth and consumption (by the day, hour or minute), all with maximum security.
(3) a ramped up mobile network over the entire course, to ensure optimum coverage, mostly in 3G or 3G+.
(4) a dedicated team of 50 technicians, mobilised around the clock, with support from 330 regional colleagues at each stage, handling the transport, assembly, operation and supervision of the necessary infrastructures and systems for five specific areas (stage finish line, organisation headquarters, intermediate points, press room and stage departure village).
Phew, S&T got tired just thinking about it all. Goodness knows how Globecast's sales director of global contribution services, Graham Smith, was going to cope for the whole 23 days of the Tour. So we thought we'd ask him. Our vision of Smith following the peloton through hill and dale (or more like mountain and ravine) was slightly off the mark however in that Globecast are so busy at the moment that he had to stay behind in London and leave all the arduous work to the reportage - the team of engineers responsible for the uplinking to which he bestowed the highest accolades. "The Tour de France is the hardest event we do, and it wouldn't be possible without our experience and dedicated reportage team," said Smith. "From a technical point of view, the route changes every year and we have to go over the entire course in advance to make sure that all the OB vans are positioned in the right places for example. Also, because coverage has increased dramatically, that has complicated matters for us. Logistically it is challenging as well - there's a complex set-up at the beginning and end of every day and every stage."

Explosive debate at S&T event

S&T is delighted to report that unexploded devices in Central London were not enough to deter our intrepid delegates from attending the third edition of Sport and Technology: The Conference 2007 on 29 June. (S&T thought that moving the conference to the ‘summer’ in the UK would avoid the weather problems of the previous two years where snow had fallen only on the day of the event. This year, however, we had both torrential rain and terrorism to contend with. It’s a good job S&T isn’t superstitious and views this as a sign, although of course the fact that we lost our lucky red and white bracelet at Wembley Stadium on the day of the Conference Play-Off Final did stop our beloved Exeter City winning promotion this year).
Delegates munched their way through excellent refreshments at Inmarsat’s convivial headquarters and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch sponsored by Jalipo while at the same time networking like billyo over a glass or two of ‘Chateau Digitale’ with colleagues and peers throughout the day. Panel discussions on ‘convergence’, the ‘rise of social networking sites’, the role of ‘stadia as television studios’ and ‘technology versus referees’ provided both food for thought and discussion as did entertaining keynotes from Mickey Charles, president of The Sports Network and Doug Gardner, who looked after Avaya’s interests in the FIFA World Cup up until 2006.

A load of (foot)balls?

Obviously this was all just a spacefiller for the main event of the day of course, being the evening charity cocktail party and raffle, drawn by Spurs legend and Exeter City Director of Football Steve Perryman. How we all laughed at the irony (or was it injustice) of Marius Schneider, head of information services at FIFA (who provided last year’s closing address), winning an Avaya-donated World Cup football signed by Brazilian soccer star Pele. Schneider was cock-a-hoop however (pictured here to the left of Steve Perryman), having never been able to procure such items in the course of his work, or so he said. (We believe him, although to be fair, the ball hasn’t appeared on eBay yet).
Shortly after this year’s event ended, S&T decamped down to soggy Cornwall for a few days R&R in the company of Mr Perryman and Exeter City FC in order to watch the pre-season friendlies and attend a beach party and barbeque with the team’s manager and players. S&T is sure that when the beach party was booked back in January, the last thing the Tour organisers expected of a July evening in Perranporth was a howling gale and freezing temperatures. But hey ho, it was easier to stalk our favourite team members in the confines of a small room at the back of a pub. Class! (Imagine that happening at LA Galaxy or Manchester United?) Roll on the start of the new footy season and no doubt more heartache and misery………….
P.S For those of you who keep asking why S&T isn't at the PDC World Matchplay Darts Championship in Blackpool for the first time in about zillion years this week and worried that this was due to something spooky such as the world no longer spinning, well, we've got the builders in and how could we keep furnishing them with cups of tea and biscuits if we were off bothering the likes of Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Colin 'Jaws' Lloyd, Peter 'One Dart' Manley and chums? We did go to the UK Open in Bolton last month however so feel suitably tungstened-up for the foreseeable. Thanks for the concern though.

Rachael Church-Sanders
Editor

Do you have any cycling-related tales that might interest us or is the step machine more of your thang? It goes without saying that it would be 'tres formidable' hearing from you, so send all your comments and stories to the editor (rchurch@sportandtechnology.com) as fast as you jolly well can.

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