Organisers delighted as crowds at Glasgow 2018 exceed expectations
HALF a million people got involved in events linked to the European Championships in Glasgow, organisers said.
Glasgow 2018 saw the city host six sports – aquatics, cycling, gymnastics, golf, rowing and triathlon – over 11 days of competition, while Berlin staged the athletics.
It was the biggest sporting event hosted in Glasgow since the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
More than 500,000 people – double the projected number – attended a sports session or one of the associated cultural events at the Europeans, which drew to a close on Sunday.
Some 138,000 tickets were issued to spectators for sporting events such as the swimming at Tollcross, track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome or diving at Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Pool.
An estimated 57,000 people turned out to watch free events such as the men’s and women’s road races and cycling time trial events, mountain biking at Cathkin Braes and open water swimming at Loch Lomond & The Trossachs, organisers revealed.
However, top cyclists racing through city streets on Sunday suffered as many as 100 punctures on the course – which has now been compared to one of the most notorious races in cycling.
Former Olympic gold medalist Chris Boardman spoke of the “unbelievable” number of punctures during his BBC commentary of the men’s cycling road race which attracted 136 of Europe’s elite cyclists.
Boardman compared the Glasgow circuit to the notoriously tough Parisroubaix event and said: “Unbelievable amount of punctures. They are going to run out of wheels at this rate.”
He added: “Stopped listing them now. I think we’ve seen at least between four and six punctures every lap so far.”