CWG Day 5 - The Social Networking Games

Chris and I nipped to the range for a quick crack at 1000x in the morning and had some decent shoots; although the wind was moving about a bit and we decided to take it on with some success. Groups were more solid that they had been but still weren't perfect. There was a heavy mirage on the range with the strong sunlight and high humidity, which may have caused groups to be slightly bigger than expected.

The range finished, we hacked in back to the main compound and dropped off the rifles and kit bags before hopping a bus back to the Apex Hotel in Dundee. We needed to get on the coaches back into Glasgow at 14:45 for the opening ceremony, so quick showers and changes were required before a swift lunch.

Being a Commonwealth Games, er, athlete consists mainly of being alternatively treated like cattle then royalty. The Opening Ceremony is probably the best example of this. I maintain that marching for your country is the most exhilarating experience you can have, and the feeling of having 50,000 people cheering you on compares to nothing else of which I know; however it usually comes at the cost of hanging around forever and an age. It is always worth it.

With this being a home games, my wife Katrina and children Samuel and Isaac had made it up to Glasgow to watch the opening ceremony so Chris and I escaped from the village to meet up with them and go for a bit to eat. The only downside is that none of us know the city and we were approaching the stadium from opposite ends of town, but eventually we met up at the East Gate and went for dinner. Having been away for nearly two and a half weeks, it was lovely to see the family. I love to tour but being away from family (but not friends, very many are shooters) for long periods of time can be trying. With dinner over Kat and the kids headed for the stadium, while Chris and I headed back to Team Wales HQ in the village to meet up with the rest of the team.

The opening ceremony, well you can see that on iPlayer, and I even managed to make it onto the TV for the second games running. Bit of a late night though, finally made it back to the hotel for 2am to find well over 50 Facebook notifications waiting for me. My good friend Dan from Jersey had well over 100. An ordinary man with extraordinary hair.