Glasgow, Scotland, and Berlin, Germany, are jointly hosting the inaugural multi-sport European Championships from 02-12 August 2018. Berlin will stage the athletics, and my home city of Glasgow will host the aquatics, cycling, golf, gymnastics, rowing, and triathlon.
This will be my first major sporting event as a photographer. I had previously covered the Glasgow 2014 cultural events, and really enjoyed being there.
I applied for accreditation early on in 2018, and was very pleased to learn back in May that I had been successful. Now, with only a few days to go, to say that I’m equal parts excited and nervous is an understatement! I’m going to try to find time to blog about my experiences at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships.
Run by the European sports federations, approximately 4,500 athletes will compete, with over one billion television viewers watching from across the continent, and an even wider audience via multiple digital platforms.
Glasgow 2014
Media Hub
Tomorrow, I’ll be heading to the Championships Media Hub (CMH) to pick up my accreditation. And I need to pre-register my smartphone, laptop and camera, so that I can connect directly to the Internet at the CMH and venues without having to remember log-in details. Personal hotspots (e.g., 4G over Wi-Fi) aren’t allowed, and I don’t want to be dealing with Internet connectivity issues on the first day of shooting!
Every location has a Venue Media Centre (VMC), with workspace, lockers, catering, Wi-Fi (and limited wired Ethernet), helpdesk, and access to a Venue Photo Supervisor, who is in charge of photo positions and the placing of remote cameras (when allowed). Basically, everything that we photographers and journalists will need to cover Glasgow 2018, and stay fed and watered, connected and, hopefully, happy.
Championships
Media Hub
Three venues that I’ll be photographing at are: the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome for track cycling, The SSE Hydro for gymnastics, and Glasgow BMX Centre for (you guessed it) BMX’ing.
Some ‘venues’ are a bit out of the ordinary. For example, the cycling time trials will start in Glasgow city centre, but then cover much of neighbouring East Dunbartonshire and Stirling, too, before competitors return to Glasgow Green. Mountain biking will take place on the Cathkin Braes Mountain Bike Trails in Glasgow.
These inaugural European Championships are continuing the example of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, by holding some events in neighbouring areas.
Even Edinburgh, on the east coast, will host the diving. But I can’t be everywhere at once!
The open-water swimming will take place at Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, over in West Dunbartonshire, and the rowing and triathlon at Strathclyde Country Park in North Lanarkshire.
How will I get between venues, when some are around an hour’s drive apart? Well, like any major international sporting event, these Championships will have a Media Transport Hub (MTH), from which scheduled coaches will travel to and from venues. Spectators and the media are being encouraged to use public transport as much as possible at the Championships, and parking at venues is limited.
I’ve been doing all the grunt work, organising where I need to be, when (and how I’m travelling there), and writing caption and keyword templates. More on that in another blog.
There’s been a lot of information to take in. From venues, and transport between them, to schedules (for both sporting events and Festival 2018 cultural events), to a huge media guide to read through.
I think I’m as organised as I’ll ever be. Time to jump right in, and get in about it (as we say in Glasgow)!