More Olympics related events and stuff to get involved in

It seems like LOCOG (The London 2012 Organising Committee) is now fast rolling out 2012 events and 2012 badged events as we approach the big year.

For folks who missed out on tickets but want to get a sense of what the events will be like, it might be worth investigating the London Prepares Series. This set of trial Olympic events staged at a number of London venues started last weekend with the Equestrian test event at Greenwich Park.

Future events this month and next include:

• The London International Basketball Invitational - six of the top men's teams in the world competing in the brand new Basketball Arena on the Olympic Park on 16-21 August.
• UCI BMX Supercross World Cup 2011 – some of the world's best riders trying out the jumps, bumps and tightly banked corners of the new BMX Track, London, 19-20 August.
• The Hadleigh Farm Mountain Bike International on 31 July, will be the first chance for mountain bike riders to race on the new, purpose-built for the London 2012 Mountain Bike competition in Hadleigh, Essex. 
• An intercontinental women's exhibition event, the FIVB Beach Volleyball International will feature a total of 54 matches across six days of competition from 9-14 August at Horse Guards Parade. 

The events are not free. The one I looked at was £20 per adult ticket. Find out more at www.londonpreparesseries.com

LOCOG (how Orwellian) are also advertising an eclectic set of events on their main london2012 website. To give you a sense of what's there, I came up with this ragtagbag of free events:

• Bollywood Beat - Learning Bollywood dancing - S Norwood, 23 July
• North London Sabre Club Fencing Fun Day - Enfield, 23 July
• Saturday Big Dance, Participatory dance event - Walthamstow, 23 July
• Event description:
• Search Party - "an intriguing free treasure hunt. For one adventurous afternoon, east London becomes an urban playground filled with intrigue and surprise", 23 July
• Gymnastics Taster Session - Hendon Leisure Centre, 22 July