Meetings tomorrow regarding Health and safety. In this world that we live in we have to ensure that all boxes are ticked. This is not a side that I enjoy, however we must not avoid it. It will be the first visit of the H&S steward, I am sure that it will be OK, but we will need to walk through all the days activities.

It will be simpler than a normal event as the space is so compact. There will only ever be one horse competing at a time so will not have to worry about all the different phases, however it is a very different situation. The warm up areas are all below the stadium, one is outside adjacent to the stables, but the final warm up area is actually beneath the stadium.

We have to ensure that there is adequate access for all emergency services at all times. The trot up will happen in the bus lanes under the stadium, and the stabling will be situated where the lights for the pitch are normally stored. The team at the stadium are being great about us taking over the place, they could not be more accommodating. However, every so often they raise their eyebrows at some of my requests!

I also have a meeting with the TV production crew. They would like me to put out electric posts on the pitch for all the jumps. I think with the new relay this week it might be pushing it, but we will see. I hope by tomorrow night I will be more up to speed with some of the technical areas that we have on the list to cover. I know that they want to install a time delay camera so that they can track the transformation of the stadium from a rugby pitch to an event course in the space of 10 hours. It will make for very interesting viewing I am sure!

We have just finished all the new jumps for Cardiff. It has been quite a marathon to get a whole course built from scratch although I have yet to see the bank as this is being built elsewhere.

Fixing these to the ground has been a difficult operation as the pitch at Cardiff is all palletised so we are unable to use spirafix screws. There was a lot of discussion but we have now decided on a solution. All the jumps are built with a pipe inside them, which once filled will weigh between 800 and 1000kg. When in position we will fix a metal 'rake' like fixing on the side to stop them sliding. They will then become very solid.

It will mean that there is another job to be done on the Saturday evening, someone will have to go around filling all the pipes, however there is a good fire hose handy!!

The next job will be to paint them all. We have a final practice run on the 13th when Pierre will fly across to finalise the exact position. We will then grid reference the area so that on the Saturday evening it will be very easy to pin point the fence positions quickly.

I am off to the stadium for two days this week to discuss TV and logistics. We are very excited about the TV production, the feedback from Sport tel at Monte Carlo was good. We had someone out there selling the event to channels all around the world. It appears that we will have very good coverage. The aim will be to get coverage from London to Cape Town and Melbourne to Beijing!

Later in the week it will be logistic planning, a day meeting to pull together the plans for the day. It will then become very real as we will be into the last 30 days.

You need to get your tickets booked as this is going to be a really big day

Well if activity is a sign of a successful event then this is going to be huge. Our office seems to be running hard with phone calls emails and correspondence. I think that it is all is really starting to take shape.



I am now in the middle of writing confirmation letters to all the officials who are coming to help, trying to explain to them their roles and tasks. It is really quite difficult as there is no blueprint for this event, as it has not run before so it is all very, very new. What is making it more exciting is the fact that we have only one night to convert the stadium from a rugby pitch to an event course.



I hear on the radio that they are having to relay the pitch because of the problems they are having! They haven't seen anything yet! I was at the stadium just after the Welsh International Football and all the controversy surrounding it then. I said to the stadium manager that I was surprised that he had not said to the press that the pitch was in great shape compared to what it would look like on the 1st December!



It is so lucky that the pitch can be replaced as easily as it can. What a wonderful venue.