Author Topic: The View From the Gantry  (Read 2320 times)

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The View From the Gantry
« on: September 28, 2020, 03:10:44 PM »
The View From the Gantry


These are the stories of Achkaerinese sportsmen and women whether they be players, athletes or coaches.

Mundus Games 2020

Women's Road Race (Sammy Lawson)
Women's Rock Climbing (Gwen Spark)
Women's Swimming (Becky Brittaine)
« Last Edit: January 14, 2021, 01:33:09 AM by Achkaerin »

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Re: The View From the Gantry
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2020, 05:18:13 PM »
Women's Road Race, Mundus Games 2020 (Sammy Lawson)

There weren't many sports that were more intriguing than road cycling, the constant evolution, the circumstantial changes, the myriad of tactical options available to the teams, it was without question a fitting opener to the Mundus Games, tradition was that the men's road race was the only medal event on the opening day and so it had been this year, this time an Aostan had got across the line first and while an Achkaerinese had snagged the bronze it was the women's race where the higher chance of success lay because this was when Sammy Lawson would hope to open her medal account at the Games, she was the most decorated athlete in the history of the Games with twenty two medals to her name and she was hunting for more, presently she was zipping up her race jacket as she walked her bike to the start line to join the rest of her team, it was a strong team as well Melanie Parker was the stalwart support pillar for Sammy it was Melanie's job to keep Sammy out of trouble and protect her, then there was Maria Cairns the young sprinter in her second games now and while she was still gaining experience she was a vital part of the team, Leia Armitage was next she was the team's climber, Rachel Staff was the fifth member she was the drafter she was the rider who'd be the first engine room if they needed to push, then there was the possible surprise rounding out the team this year was Niamh Fernley, normally associated with the velodrome Niamh was a substitution for the injured Paula Dixon.  As the start time approached Sammy did her usual double checks, her gloves, her helmet, her bike, her glasses, her shoes. She climbed onto her bike and planted her left foot on the ground, she looked around identifying the main competition the Vaguzian's were probably in the absence of the Tytorian's the main threat, the Aostan's would be high on morale after their gold on the previous day and you could never discount either home advantage or someone having the courage to have a go, what Sammy did know was that in this field she was the marked target, she was the one who was going to have the hardest time doing what she wanted to do but they had a plan and now they were going to try and execute it.

When the race started it was a fairly sedate pace, the reason was simple enough the first five kilometres were what was known as a parade run, a way of making sure that all the riders were up to speed and avoiding accidents and falls before the race started in earnest, as they cycled Sammy took note as one by one the white and gold jersey's assembled around her, Melanie to one side and Niamh right behind her covering her nicely. A look up ahead told her that perhaps fittingly the early pace was being set by the Seleucid's to the rapturous approval of the home support. There was nice easy going hill before they hit the flat and now the race started in earnest, the pace was upped and now the game faces were on. They had around a hundred and twenty kilometres of the course to cover to get to the finish and it wasn't a flat course by any means, there were a few hills, a few tight turns and so on. Sammy glanced around identifying where the main players in this were the game of cat and mouse was on the question was who was going to make the first move?

At that point the answer was no one, which wasn't really surprising they were on a flat stretch so engineering a breakaway there was going to be difficult. All the while Sammy was looking at the road markers counting off the kilometres they'd covered, remembering the map of the course they'd studied and what the options available were.  As they came over a small hill she smiled a little the big climb was coming up next after a few more kilometres on the flat.
"Ok let's take control." Sammy said
"I thought you'd never ask." Rachel said

Now came the movement as Rachel brought the Achkaerinese team to the front of the Peloton alongside the team on the front - in this case the Vaguzian's and raised the pace, the six Achkaerinese knew that to take control of the Peloton meant that they had to get the Vaguzian's to fall back it wasn't going to be easy to accomplish but as Rachel kept pushing eventually the Vaguzian's yielded and dropped behind them, Sammy grinned again now they had control of the peloton it was time for them to fracture it. Rachel upped the pace even more and while most of the peloton stayed with it the effect was being felt a slow dripping of riders out of the back was slowly becoming established as they raced towards the big climb on the course when they got within five kilometres of it Rachel dropped back her energy spent and Maria took up the task with fresher legs it was likely becoming obvious just what the Achkaerinese team was up to, Rachel had set the initial pace and now Maria had one job to do pull at this pace to the foot of the climb. Maria was in an all out sprint as she pulled for the team a glance over the shoulder told Sammy that they were doing well but the challengers were still there. They hit the foot of the climb and Maria pulled to the side and Leia moved up to inject the pace, now they were moving up a climb the gaps were becoming bigger as some riders couldn't stay with it, Leia kicked hard getting every bit of speed she could but even with the success they were having it wasn't quite enough.
"Mel you're up." Sammy said

This was the first change in the pre-race plan, usually Melanie was with Sammy the longest she was the launchpad but here as Leia slowed and dropped back it was Melanie who took up the task of pulling them up the climb which would leave Niamh in the launchpad role, they were coming up on the top of the climb and now came the critical moment, Melanie dropped back and Niamh moved up pulling Sammy over the top of the climb and then she began to attack the descent. They had thinned the field out so much now that they had delivered Sammy a gap of probably a minute to the main group, but the key was going to be on the descent, Niamh was pulling for Sammy now navigating it carefully and taking the quickest line as they swept down the other side they'd broken clear of the rest of the riders who'd been able to hang on and now it was just the two of them as they reached the end of the descent.
"Five more kilometres" Sammy said as Niamh nodded that was how much further Niamh needed to draft for at that point they'd hit another series of hills and that was where Sammy would go alone, the pair cycled onwards and when they hit the hills Sammy kicked on passing Niamh and moving off according to the signs they had a three minute gap and Sammy felt energetic, she just needed to build the gap.

The hard thing about cycling alone in a racing sense was that you lost the shield of a team mate in front of you, the other hard thing was that you had to remember you were in a race and not out for a leisurely ride in the country. Sammy was however experienced though she'd never gone for home from this far out before she usually attacked in the last twenty or thirty kilometres not sixty. She just kept pedaling and it wasn't until she hit the switchback roads of the final descent on the course an hour and a half later that she allowed herself a smile, the banging on the boards from the crowd was as loud as ever as she swept around the last corner and onto the finishing straight, she knew her lead was sizable so she sat up, eased off and enjoyed the moment crossing the line with a punch in the air. She rode to the side of the course and got off the bike before collapsing down to sit on the ground, she took her helmet off and let out a deep breath.

It took a while but over forty five minutes later the entire Achkaerinese team had crossed the line. Niamh had come and sat next to Sammy.
"That was hard work." Sammy said
"Well just think what the relentless pace on water's going to be like." Niamh said
"I don't know whether I'm looking forward to or dreading doing that." Sammy said smiling as she stood up "Time for the medals."
"Don't let me stop you." Niamh said
"By the way Niamh." Sammy said "You should come out on the road more often."

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Re: The View From the Gantry
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2020, 09:27:09 PM »
Women's Rockclimbing, Mundus Games 2020 (Gwen Spark)

The Alaverdi Arena was unlike any competition ground that the overwhelming majority of Mundus's finest rockclimbers had competed in, the size of the stadium, the fact it was in the open air it was unlike anything most were used to and a daunting arena to make your Games debut in. Gwen Spark was one of the younger athletes at the Games and she was one of the more unexpected inclusions, she'd never expected having the opportunity to compete on such a stage. The men's competition had been the first off with Albion domination obvious - the Alanders winning from Runavik and then Fleur taking bronze. It was a quick pace as well by the look of it, which suited Gwen. She paced around getting her head into the zone, the cheers from the crowd as they watched each of the athletes go up the rock wall and hit the button at the top, she occasionally glanced to see how certain parts of the competition were going. One by one she counted off the climbers until finally it was her turn. She pulled on her helmet and gloves and made her way to the starting point. A grin on her face as she settled herself down.

"Please welcome from Achkaerin Gwen Spark." the announcer's voice boomed over the speakers followed by a near deafening cheer from the packed arena, she glanced at the time to beat an Alander on 11.5 seconds. Gwen checked her safety line one last time and did a few jumps before gripping the lightning shaped necklace she wore around her neck and said a silent prayer before taking to the wall and going as fast as she could, from hold to hold kicking off with her feet to propel herself up the wall faster and faster, she wasn't sure how fast she was going other than it felt quick, she timed her last push right and her left fist made contact with the button that stopped the clock. She kept hold of the top handhold while she looked over her shoulder at the big screen for the time and gasped in shock she'd set the fastest time, she was in gold medal position. She kicked off the wall and abseiled her way down. She returned to her seat and now she smiled, she'd never gone that fast before.

But now it got stressful, because now she was the one to beat and all she could do was watch and see how many people would beat her time if any, she knew that each climber that was slower brought her one step closer to a medal. It was a torturous watch, then the third last to go went slower, Gwen smiled she had a bronze medal for definite, then up went the penultimate climber again they were slower, silver medal guaranteed. As the last climber, an Alander, was introduced Gwen got up and started pacing she couldn't stand the tension, she pulled on her team Achkaerin baseball cap and waited, it would only be a few seconds but it would seem a lot longer. The cheers of the crowd were even louder as the competition reached its climax, it felt like it would never end but then came the roar, she looked at the screen and it took a moment or a few moments in truth but then it clicked, the Alander was slower than her, there was no one left and she had the fastest time, she looked around in shock she was the gold medalist. She shook the hands of the other climbers and was thrown an Achkaerinese flag to display, the shock probably wouldn't wear off for a while and in the morning she'd probably think she'd dreamt it. But this was no dream she really had gone and done it.

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Re: The View From the Gantry
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2021, 01:31:38 AM »
Women's 800m Individual Medley, Mundus Games 2020 (Becky Brittaine)

The Saroyan Dynasty Arena, might well have been in the running for the largest swimming arena the Mundus Games swimmers had ever competed in but that didn't really change the mood in the call room as the eight swimmers - one from Aschlon, one Cenneg, one Ecclesiastical, a Centralian, a Heyran, an Aostan, a Morelander and Achkaerin's Becky Brittaine waited to be called into the arena for the final of the women's 800m individual medley event. As per tradition of the Games they'd be called in in reverse order of qualifying time for the final with the slowest first and the fastest last, Becky was used to being called in next to last, usually qualifying second fastest and usually because of the same reason - Daisy Greechan she was so used to seeing East Moreland's great swimmer lining up next to her in truth Becky had lost track of how many times they'd squared of and yes Daisy had won more than she'd lost against Becky but this race was Becky's specialism, this was the one she tended to edge Daisy in though not by much. Still it was a weird situation, and had been all the way through the Games she was so used to seeing Daisy in the call room before a race, warming up beforehand, cooling down afterwards, sharing the medal podium and above all seeing her Morelander cap slicing through the water like a torpedo. It was odd not seeing that, she took out her headphones as the call started, the athletes called out in order, she was the last the fastest qualifier, when her name was called she stepped out into the pool arena and walked to the starting blocks the roar of the crowd deafening, she had lane four, she placed her top and towel into the box marked for her lane and put on her goggles as she looked around, she knew all of the seven swimmers around her were strong opposition, the lack of one big name didn't make this an easier race she would still have a hard challenge ahead of her if she wanted to win.

"Take your marks." the starter said, Becky and the others got into position a quick glance left and right told Becky that everyone was up on the blocks so no one was opting to start with the backstroke and any medley swimmer who didn't finish with freestyle was either foolish or a genius so the questions were first were any of the others going to mix it up and go out with the fastest stroke? And second if not freestyle would it be the usual butterfly or would it be breaststroke? There wasn't really a hard and fast set in stone order, there was a conventional order - butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and then freestyle but there was nothing that said swimmers had to follow that order.

The sound of the starting buzzer came and the eight swimmers dived forwards, the rule off the start was simple enough, hit the water like an arrow, kick hard, stay underwater for as long as you were allowed and then come up and go. When she came up Becky found herself along with all the others doing butterfly she wasn't leading, but there was a long way to go, turn one...turn two...turn three...the field still somewhat together, the central lanes vying for the lead as they came up on the two hundred metre mark and the first change of strokes, and actually the change that Becky hated the most - backstroke was her weakest stroke. She hit the turn and kicked round getting onto her back and beginning the process of stroke counting so she knew when the wall was coming, she knew she'd lose a little ground in the next two hundred metres but she wasn't likely to lose touch with the leaders, she just had to imagine a musical instrument playing in a certain time notation to guide her through this stage of the race, she wasn't looking left or right she didn't want to know the race situation lest it put her off her game. When they hit the four hundred metre mark though that did change as she kicked around to begin the breaststroke leg she was able to get a sense of where the race was at, she was on the coat tails of the Aostan, Heyran and Centralian and about level with the Morelander, the others were a little behind, now for the third stroke, the third leg of the race. Becky knew her breaststroke was good but now as they raced down another length of the pool she had to start making decisions about when to make her move or moves to try and win this gold, when they hit five hundred metres she kicked hard off the turn and made her first move she needed to stretch this out, lower the number of people she had to think about, it was a gamble to wind up the race three hundred metres from home but this was what she put the hard training hours in for, at five hundred and fifty metres on the turn she saw that she was edging the Morelander and the Centralian out so it was looking like it was down to her, the Aostan and the Heyran.

At six hundred metres came the final change this time to freestyle, it was the equivalent of getting the bell in athletics this was practically the last lap and this was Becky's strongest stroke, it would have been easy to throw a blanket over the top three as they swam down the length of the pool such was the closeness of the race, she could see the caps either side of her and as they headed toward seven hundred metres she gritted her teeth this was now a three way game of chicken, who was going to kick first? Who had the best kick? Who had the most left in the tank? All of the variables were running around inside Becky's head and then she made up her mind and went for it, as they hit seven hundred metres she kicked hard on the turn and accelerated, what had the other two got left? She didn't know, she didn't look she only wanted to go as fast as she could and hoped to get to the line before she ran out of energy, as she hit the final turn she took a deep breath and in the turn saw the slight advantage she had, now she was betting on her lungs, the distance stroke by stroke decreased the wall came up, looming larger and larger with each passing second, and then she felt the palm of her hand hit it, eight hundred metres, she turned and looked up at the screen and smiled broadly when she saw she'd won. When everyone else had finished she climbed out of the pool, shook hands with her competitors and grabbed her towel and top before heading off to cool down.

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Re: The View From the Gantry
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2021, 10:36:09 AM »
Mixed Martial Arts, Men's Individual Heavyweight, Mundus Games 2020

There were few things in James Chase's life, if any, that could compare to this - stepping into the Medieval MMA arena for a medal match at the Mundus Games, like all of his fellow competitors he'd come hoping to get a shot at the gold medal match but then he'd come up against one of East Moreland's two heavyweights in good form and despite putting up his best fight been disarmed, so here he was about to fight it out for the bronze medal. To make matters a little more interesting the opposition for this one came in the form of a Bakkermayan, after East Moreland they were the next best at this sport so this was going to be far from easy for James. Standing across the arena from his opponent as they were introduced to the crowd James had to smile it was more than likely that the watching crowd were more interested in the upcoming gold medal match, to be fair James himself was looking forward to watching that one given it was East Moreland's clash of the titans but first things first he had a job to do. Putting on his helmet he picked up his shield and walked forwards to the centre of the arena where after nodding to each other James pulled down his helmets visor and drew his sword, adopting what would be considered the MMMA equivalent of an orthodox stance, side on to the opponent, shield on the left arm held in front of him, sword in the right hand held horizontally point over the top of the shield. Now came the hard part, getting the initiative it sounded easy enough right? Just charge forward and start swinging to dictate the pace, but that came with a problem, much like boxing the principle was that of hit without getting hit it was a bit more sophisticated due to the fact that there were shields and swords in play but it was the same idea. James took a deep breath, he knew that he couldn't afford to be passive in this one, he couldn't really bank on being able to keep it tight and hope for a points win either so he'd have tp go for the aggressive option and try his best to knock this guy across from him out.

Then it started, the bell rang and the Bakkermayan sword came over the top, James blocked it with is own before stepping up with it shield up and using it to try and stop his opponent's follow through. Now the fight really got going, sword on sword, sword against shield, the sounds of each blow against armor, against sword, against shield echoed through the arena as the pair danced their dance around each other, it might have looked like it was about strength, but there was also an element of strategy to this as well, each swing had a purpose, probing for a weakness, trying to get the opponent to do something they didn't want to do it was all part of the sport. The first and second rounds passed with this rhythm, both fighters getting all the encouragement and advice from their coaches between rounds, they'd both landed some good blows but neither had been knocked down or scored a significant hit however that didn't mean that they weren't wearing each other down. James wiped the sweat off his face with a towel as he listened to his coach telling him to work the combinations, it was going to be a very close thing if it went the distance and he wasn't confident that he was ahead, so third round game plan? Knock this guy down, he didn't need to KO him but he needed a blow that would give him something of an advantage in the points stakes if it went that way.

The third round, the final round, was perhaps the loudest of them all, the pair of them not as fast as they'd been at the start now relying more on their shields and armor than their footwork, it was still a close run thing until out of absolutely nothing James managed a swing that dropped his opponents shield to the floor, as his opponent had been staggered by the strike that had done this there was a little space between them, the strike was so surprising that it took James a moment to process what had actually happened. Now James was a sporting competitor so seeing his opponents shield on the ground he dropped his own which got some applause from the watching crowd, undoubtedly there would be some who would say that was a pretty dumb move but it felt right and at least this way James could get both hands on his sword and swing it with both. Stepping forward the two fighters swung their blades again, standing only a short distance apart this was fast and furious, swing, thrust, block and parry, strikes raining down on both fighters and then finally as the two of them locked blades it happened James got the advantage, it took a fair bit of strength but he was able to break the lock in his favor and then strike his opponents body, again his opponent staggered but this time James wasn't as surprised as he had been when the shield had dropped, he went on the offensive a flurry of strikes landing until finally his opponent went down. James backed away as the crowd roared and the referee began to count out his opponent, all James could think was please don't get up, it had taken practically everything he had to deliver the sequence that had knocked him down and he wasn't sure he could do it again.

"Ten" the number from the referee's mouth hit James like a train, it took a moment but he raised his hands punching the air. Once the formalities after the fight were done James still couldn't believe he'd managed to win a bronze medal, well that only put him two golds behind his girlfriend if he could call her that right?