Visitors enjoy the great outdoors, indoors for the sixth year running
The
Rt. Hon. Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Sport opened the sixth Ordnance
Survey Outdoors Show to the sounds of Indiana Jones played by a scout band,
and watched in awe as The Royal Marines abseiled down the side of the NEC
dressed in outdoor gear such as diving flippers and rucksacks - setting the
scene for an action-packed event. The Marines even managed to do a
bit of combat with the NEC building by swinging through one of the glass
panels - needless to say these tough guys carried on without many noticing.
This year's line up of speakers was a who's who of outdoors champions including Brian Blessed, Alan Hinkes OBE, Leo Houlding and Bill Oddie. It was Survivalist Ray Mears who stole the show, as tickets to see his talk ran out in a record fifteen minutes. Colin Prior's talk on the value of wilderness was inspiring and needless to say, the slide show and video was stunning.
The 'Have a go' areas proved extremely popular, with visitors of all ages scaling the giant stalactite and climbing wall, canoeing at the canoe pool, testing their biking skills at the bike arena, navigating their way through an on-site cave and taking advantage of free diving tuition in the dive pool. All credit must go to the organisers of the dive pool as there were a lot of smiling faces and excited children. Elsewhere adults and children were able to try their hand at bushcraft and survival skills such as lighting a fire, purifying water or recognising safe wild foods in the wilderness camp.
The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show was the venue for IFSC European Bouldering Championships - held for the first time at Climb 2007. Huge crowds watched as the competition proved no problem for David Lama of Austria who took first place in the men's event and Juliette Danion of France who came top in the women's event. Brit hope Dave Barrans reached the semi-finals and climbed well but didn't make it to the final.
For the second year running, the indoor Peak UK Kayaking Challenge took place in the Canoe Pool. This unique contest attracted world standard athletes and combined freestyle, sprint and slalom skills to find the overall champion, the ladies winner was Claire O' Hara, Matt Cooke took the men's trophy, while Stu Parry won the junior division. The Bungee Boatercross brought out a roar from the crowd as two at a time, the athletes raced head to head down the pool as the carefully tensioned bungee they were attached to tightened.
Show Manager, Kate Thomas, dmg world media, said, "This year the event
was more energised and dynamic than ever. A great mix of dedicated outdoors
enthusiasts, novices and families attended the show, which really helped
to create a buzz as they had a go at the range of outdoor activities. It
was great to children's faces light up as they learnt essential survival
skills such as building a fire and purifying water in the wilderness camp."
Vanessa Lawrence, Director General and Chief Executive of The Ordnance Survey added, "I would like to pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of everyone who helped make the sixth Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show such a success.
It was terrific to see so many people enjoying themselves and being so passionate about going outside into the Great British countryside. The range of exhibitors, products and activities on display was wonderful.
We are proud to sponsor an event that is so hugely successful at showing exactly what the outdoors has to offer."
There was a fantastic atmosphere across the whole event and visitor enthusiasm for the products, talks and activities was evident throughout the three days. Many exhibitors have already signed up for next year's event on the strength of its success.
The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show will return to the NEC next year on 14-16 March 2008.
