Hadleigh Farm is an educational working farm and cross-country cycling venue located in Hadleigh, within the borough of Castle Point, in the county of Essex. The men's and women's mountain biking events of the 2012 Summer Olympics took place at Hadleigh Farm on 11 and 12 August.
Hadleigh Farm is owned by the Salvation Army and run as an educational working farm. It features a rare breeds centre and tea room for visitors. The 700-acre (2.8 km2) farm was purchased in 1891 by William Booth as part of a plan to rescue the destitute from the squalor of London.
Hadleigh Farm overlooks the Thames Estuary to the south and adjoins Hadleigh Castle, built in the 1230s during the reign of King Henry III, and one of the most important late-medieval castles in Essex, now preserved by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. A portion of the mountain bike course for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games crosses the adjacent Hadleigh Country Park, owned and managed by Essex County Council and a Site of Special Scientific Interest with special regard for invertebrates. [1]
Hadleigh Farm was confirmed in 2008 as the venue for the mountain biking competitions of the cycling programme of the 2012 Summer Olympics. [2] [3] The original proposed venue at Weald Country Park had been deemed insufficiently challenging by the UCI, who were described as being delighted with Hadleigh. [4]
Temporary grandstands seating up to 3,000 people were erected for the Olympics. [5] Following the Olympics the course was adapted for use by the general public, with a new bike shop, cafe, and workshop and broader facilities for the farm. [6] A new mountain bike club based at the farm has been founded [7] and the course has been used for events including the British National Mountain Bike Championships. [8]
Plans for improving access to the site for the Olympics included the widening of Castle Lane and Chapel Lane in Hadleigh. [9] The site is approximately 5 miles (8 km) from London Southend Airport. Hadleigh Farm lies along the London, Tilbury and Southend line between Benfleet and Leigh-on-Sea railway stations.
Rayleigh is a market town and civil parish in the Rochford District in Essex, England; it is located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, 32 miles (51 km) east of central London. It had a population of 32,150 at the census in 2011.
Castle Point is a local government district with borough status in south Essex, England, lying 30 miles (48 km) east of central London. The borough comprises an area on the mainland and the adjoining Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary, which is connected to the mainland by bridges. The council is based in Thundersley. The borough's other main settlements are Canvey Island, Hadleigh and South Benfleet.
The A13 is a major road in England linking Central London with east London and south Essex. Its route is similar to that of the London, Tilbury and Southend line via Rainham, Grays, Tilbury, Stanford-Le-Hope & Pitsea,and runs the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area, terminating on the Thames Estuary at Shoeburyness. It is a trunk road between London and the Tilbury junction, a primary route between there and Sadlers Hall Farm near South Benfleet, and a non-primary route between there and Shoeburyness.
Hadleigh Castle is a ruined fortification in the English county of Essex, overlooking the Thames Estuary from south of the town of Hadleigh. Built after 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, the castle was surrounded by parkland and had an important economic and defensive role. The castle was significantly expanded and remodelled by Edward III, who turned it into a grander property, designed to defend against a potential French attack, as well as to provide the King with a convenient private residence close to London. Built on a soft hill of London clay, the castle has often been subject to subsidence; this, combined with the sale of its stonework in the 16th century, has led to it now being ruined. The remains are now preserved by English Heritage and protected under UK law as a Grade I listed building and scheduled monument.
Thundersley is a town and former civil parish, in the Castle Point borough, in southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, 31 miles (50 km) east of Charing Cross, London. In 2011 it had a population of 24,800.
Weald Country Park is a 700-year-old, 500 acre (2 km²) country park in South Weald in the borough of Brentwood in the English county of Essex. It is on the north-east fringe of Greater London.
Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014. The facility was one of the permanent venues for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Prittle Brook is a 7.2 mile (11.59 km) watercourse in south Essex, England. A tributary of the River Roach, the brook rises in Thundersley and passes through Hadleigh, Leigh-on-Sea, Westcliff, Prittlewell, Rochford and discharges into the Roach and then into the North Sea via the Roach and Crouch estuaries.
Daws Heath contains a large area of woodland in eastern Thundersley, part of Castle Point near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. It is traversed by the Daws Heath Road and St Michael's Road. Daws Heath provides a semi-rural escape for local towns and villages and their residents as they walk, cycle or drive out of Castle Point, as Daws Heath Road has fields and woodland on both sides of the road with a small scattering of houses. Going down Daws Heath Road it is not uncommon to see rare-breed cattle, sheep and horses. Daws Heath is surrounded by Greenbelt and Woodland which are a buffer to stop the local villages merging by development. West Woods, nearly 80 acres (320,000 m2) of mixed woodland, was purchased from the Church of England in 2009, securing continued public access to these woods; public support in the Daws Heath area is very strong especially on green belt and woodland preservation. The area has established neighbourhood watch schemes, Church Groups and Greenbelt Protection Groups. Daws Heath contains The Deanes,, and is linked to a local Sixth Form College in Thundersley (SEEVIC), now part of USP College.
The 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics venues were mostly located in the host city of London, though some other events required facilities located elsewhere. Between the successful bid and the Olympics and Paralympics themselves, several details and venues changed.
South Benfleet is a town and former civil parish, in the Castle Point district of Essex, England, 30 miles east of London. It is adjacent to the village of North Benfleet. The Benfleet (SS7) post town includes South Benfleet, Thundersley, New Thundersley and Hadleigh. The Battle of Benfleet took place here between the Vikings and Saxons in 894. In 1951 the parish had a population of 8191.
Hadleigh is a town and former civil parish, in the borough of Castle Point, in southeast Essex, England, on the A13 between Thundersley, Benfleet and Leigh-on-Sea with a population of 18,300. It has a squared bypass to the north.
Swinley Forest is a large expanse of Crown Estate woodland managed by Forestry England mainly within the civil parishes of Windlesham in Surrey and Winkfield and Crowthorne in Berkshire, England.
Hadleigh Country Park is a country park in Hadleigh, Essex, England.
The cycling competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at five venues between 28 July and 12 August. The venues were the London Velopark for track cycling and BMX, and Hadleigh Farm, in Essex, for mountain biking. The road races took place over a course starting and ending in The Mall in central London and heading out into Surrey, while the time trials started and finished at Hampton Court Palace in Richmond upon Thames. Eighteen events were contested and around 500 athletes participated.
Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre is a sports centre located in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The centre was built in March 1996 and expanded in November 2010, adding Southend Swimming and Diving Centre to the site, with a new reception area linking the two centres together with self-swiping turnstiles. The site's main name remained as Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre with the addition of Southend Swimming and Diving Centre. The centre is also known as Garon Park, as the buildings sit within the park site. The centre is run by Fusion Lifestyle.
The Hadleigh Farm Mountain Bike International was a one off, mountain bike race, which acted as the test event for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The race was part of the London Prepares series of events. Catharine Pendrel and Julien Absalon won the races.
The men's cross-country cycling event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at Hadleigh Farm on 12 August.
The women's cross-country cycling event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at Hadleigh Farm on 11 August.
Lea Davison is an American cross-country mountain biker from Jericho, Vermont. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's cross-country at Hadleigh Farm, finishing in 11th place, and she finished 7th in the same event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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