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Paralympic and Olympic experience
Aaron is pictured during the Paralympic team dressage medal ceremony which GB won gold in.
An OLYMPIC Games Maker, from just outside Edzell, has spoken to the Brechiner about his time volunteering at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.
Aaron Glen was stationed at Greenwich Park, for 30 days, where he was part of the transport team.
“We were mainly dealing with people as they came off buses or out of cars, mainly athletes, officials, media and marketing partners,” he explained.
“The atmosphere was unreal, especially whenever a British person was competing in the arena - the noise then was just immense.
“When Britain won gold the stadium just erupted and people liked to stamp their feet, which was quite interesting when it was built on scaffolding.”
Becoming one of the 70,000 volunteers was much like applying for a job, applications were sent and interviews given.
“I said I would prefer to do equestrian as I have a background in horses and have studied Equine Sports Science at university.
“My best memory of the games was Team GB winning gold in the para dressage because I was right at the front of the grandstand.
“We were quite lucky because we were working in transport. It was normally busy before the events started and once they had finished, so in between we got to make the most of our breaks and got to watch events.”
As well as equestrian events, Aaron also got the chance to watch some of the modern pentathlon, but, none of this would have been possible without help from a Wave of Friendship bursary from Volunteer Development Scotland which went towards Aaron’s accommodation and transport down to London.
“I ended up camping on a pitch at a rugby club.
“Quite a lot of sports clubs offered up their pitches to try and encourage people into the area.
“I spent 28 days in total camping so it was nice to get home and into a proper bed,” added Aaron.
Looking to the future, Aaron is now thinking about helping at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as well as volunteering at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
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Weather for Brechin
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 11 C
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