What have we learned from the sporting weekend?

If there is one thing this sporting weekend has highlighted is that sport, just like in life, has extreme physical, mental and emotional highs and adversely some painful, incomprehensible, tragic lows.

Take the world of Motorsport for example.  In the space of only a week the Motorsport community has lost two of its stars.  Last Sunday, Dan Wheldon died as a result of a truly horrific crash involving 15 cars in an IndyCar race in Las Vegas.  Today, Motorcycling is mourning the death of Marco Simoncelli, the Italian MotoGP rider tragically killed in a freakish accident on the Sepang track in Malaysia.  It is certainly not difficult to understand the reactions of people within the Motorsport community during the past week.  Questions surrounding the safety of Motorsport have been paramount in the minds of many.  Were there too many cars lining up on the Las Vegas track last Sunday?  Could anything have been done to ensure Simoncelli's helmet remained securely in place on accident impact?  The painful truth is we will never know if the deaths of Wheldon or Simoncelli could have been prevented if certain "safety" precautions were in place.  Participants in Motorsport are fully aware of the potential dangers of their disciplines, everytime they enter a car or sit on a bike.  Mercifully in this day and age we rarely have to discuss the tragedy of fatalities in Motorsport, such are the safety precautions already employed by disciplines.  Having witnessed the deaths of two of its stars in the space of week however, emotions will understandably run high and people will start to question the safety of Motorsport disciplines in the coming weeks.  Once the raw emotions have settled, we can only hope there is a sensible review of safety procedures based on fact, and no knee jerk reactions.  For today we will simply say rest in peace Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli.

New Zealand as a nation has gone through some truly awful lows this past year.  The Pike River mine disaster and the Christchurch earthquake are two events that have had a dramatic effect on the country.  New Zealand was in need of a lift, and boy did they find the perfect tonic in hosting the Rugby World Cup Finals this past month and a half.  Not one bad word has passed the lips of anyone concerning the hosts.  England may have some concerns about CCTV cameras, Ferry Police and other certain incidents but hey that's a story for another day.  And so it came to the final of the Rugby World Cup contested between France and the host nation.  I really would not even want to begin to comtemplate the physical, mental and emotional rollercoaster those players went through today.  Every single player in that New Zealand team had the weight of the nation on their shoulders and possibly for the first time in the entire tournament it was actually clear to see today.  If the truth be told it was an ugly match, but name a Kiwi in the world today who really cares.  The fact is New Zealand are Rugby World Champions and the nation is on an emotional high.  Party On New Zealand!