Sporting test against the best

Visitors to Fieldays will be able to test their skills against New Zealand sporting champions.

Inside an old British double decker bus are a rowing machine and a stationary bike. Linked to them are televisions which track your speed and pit you against New Zealand record holders Mahe Drysdale and Alison Shank.

Drysdale holds world championship titles for single scull races and Shank is an Olympic cyclist.

“Even though she’s a female she’s very hard to beat,” said Kai Lim who worked on the software for the Olympic simulators.

Despite the difficulty some people have managed to conquer the machines.

“Yesterday one of the contractors decided to have a go and he managed to beat it. The whole course is meant to be 1km but we shorten it to 300m and the cycling is only four laps. That makes it possible to beat it. You don’t need as much stamina.”

Sandra Kalnina, who has also helped set up the bus for Fieldays, attempted to race on the bike.

“I tried four laps and I was out of breath,” she said.

“She was better than me because I work with software,” said Kai  Lim. “I sit at a computer all day.”

Upstairs on the double decker bus are rows of seats and iPads. There are apps installed on the iPads that kids can use to find out about Olympic history.

They can use the iPads to take photos of themselves with a good luck message attached.  The photos get uploaded on to the New Zealand Olympic team’s website.

The bus will spend the next two months touring New Zealand schools, seeking to encourage New Zealand kids’ interest in the upcoming Olympics.