Olympic gold medallist Mark Hunter, the reigning olympic champion in the men's light weight double scull, joined an exited crowd on the last day of the Dorney Olympic Countdown Weekend, the Family Fun Day. He set the children a 100m rowing challenge, which they enthusiastically embraced the challenge on the 6 Ergo machines in Dorney Village Hall. He was absolutely wonderful with the children, encouraging them and giving lots of support. Despite of his gruelling training for the forthcoming 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, he spent time opening the playground, giving lots of signatures and having himself photographed with all the local admirers. He showed the children his gold medals and even opened the iPlay. The iPlay is the 3rd and final instalment of Dorney playground and most costly piece of equipment the playground now owns. Mark seemingly enjoyed the summer party and the welcoming local spirit and said: "It's wonderful to see Dorney embracing the olympic games and the rowing so much. The kids have been really great and the iPlay is a fantastic piece of kit. It will give them an excellent opportunity to exercise and get fit." He then even had a go on the iplay and really enjoyed the game. Mark captured the hearts and minds of the local community and children and will surely be supported by a lot of residents when he does his rowing in Slowenia and hopefully qualifies for London 2012.

His father, Terry Hunter, a renowned local rowing coach, had already kindly given up his time on Saturday and Sunday to oversee the rowing challenge in Dorney Reach village hall. Young and old joined in to row to the olympic village in Stratford and overall rowed there and back twice, well in excess of 200km!

The family fun day saw a lot of other highlights. Lots of free events including a free bouncy castle, free face painting and some great games sponsored by cadbury's, 2 different teams, "spots and stripes" challenged each other in a series of competitions. One of the best was Sumo wrestling, but also the tug of war and a number of smaller games were all heavily frequented. People got themselves comfortable and either had a picnic or enjoyed the food provided inexpensively by the olympic countdown committee and www.playground4dorney.org.uk.

A big thank you does not only go to the organisers of the olympic countdown weekend, but also to all the helpers, visitors and Cadbury's, who sponsored some of the games.