The event, which will allow the public to compare their performances in a range of disciplines to scores set by Olympic and Paralympic athletes, will take place on Anglia Ruskin’s Cambridge campus, and is suitable for everyone from ages 13 and upwards.
Participants will discover whether they have the strength to be an Olympic sailor by testing their “sheeting power”, compare their back and leg flexibility to top gymnasts, and find out whether they can match Sir Chris Hoy’s leg power by trying to get a track bicycle up to race speed.
Experts from the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education will also be on hand to test volunteers’ blood pressure, pulse oximetry (blood oxygen levels), ECG and spirometry, which measures lung function.
The Olympic fitness challenge, which take place at the same time as the undergraduate Open Day, is one of a series of events being run by Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge during the national Universities Week celebrations.
Universities Week 2012 is focusing on different aspects of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games and will culminate in the BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford (4-7 May), which is an official pre-Olympic test event.
On Wednesday, 2 May (6-7pm) Dr Ilaria Pappalepore, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management at Anglia Ruskin, will discuss the Cultural Olympiads and the legacy they leave.
Dr Pappalepore has carried out research, funded by the International Olympic Committee, examining the Cultural Olympiads at London 2012 and the Winter Olympics at Turin 2006. Her work has focused on their impact on local creative industries, in particular their effects on networking, creative inspiration and informal learning.
On Thursday, 3 May (7.30-8.30pm) Dan Gordon, Principal Lecturer in Sports Science at Anglia Ruskin and a former Paralympic cyclist, will explain the behind-the-scenes activity that goes into preparing athletes for the Olympics and Paralympics.
He will explore the strategies – both physiological and psychological – that are employed in the final few months leading up to competition in order to optimise performance, and also discuss the role of ‘Secret Squirrels’.
For further details of any of these free events, please contact Miriam Berg on 0845 196 5060 or miriam.berg@anglia.ac.uk
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For more press information please contact:
Jon Green on t: 0845 196 4717, e: jon.green@anglia.ac.uk
Andrea Hilliard on t: 0845 196 4727, e: andrea.hilliard@anglia.ac.uk
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