Big Crowds On Games 'Super Sunday'

The equivalent of the entire population of Glasgow passed through the city's main train station during the busiest day of Commonwealth Games action. 'Super Sunday' saw more more than 350,000 spectators watch free and ticketed events. While the railway stations coped well there was misery for some bus commuters who waited as long as two hours for park and ride transfers to some events. The home nations produced another strong performance, with England stretching its total medal haul to 57 to retain second place in the leaderboard. Scotland remains in third with 30 medals, surpassing the Delhi total of 26 after only four days of competition. Shetland schoolgirl Erraid Davies was one of the undisputed stars of today's action, stealing Commonwealth hearts with bronze in the women's 100m breaststroke. The 13-year-old said: I got a medal and I am so happy. I am feeling really, really happy.'' Glasgow 2014 organisers had to lay on extra buses in an attempt to get spectators to the stadium on time. There were 1,350,000 extra journeys by road and rail, with an estimated 780,000 today alone, Glasgow 2014 organisers said. ScotRail has delivered the biggest timetable the operator has ever seen with Glasgow Central handling 280,000 passengers on Friday, compared with 110,000 on a usual Friday, rising to 288,000 on Saturday. A record 174,000 people passed through Edinburgh Waverley. Brian Devlin, co-chairman of the Glasgow 2014 transport programme board, said:This has been a massive weekend of sport and festival in Glasgow, the city's largest ever. Over the last two days Glasgow Central Station alone has had the equivalent of the entire population of Glasgow pass through it." Almost 700,000 people have visited the city over the weekend and 1.3 million journeys were made by road and rail through the week. An estimated 30,000 people took to the streets to cheer on the marathon athletes and Glasgow Green live site recorded a bumper 39,000 people over the course of the day."There were some delays with buses from the park and ride sites to some venues but we managed to commission more buses and people did get to where they wanted to be. Almost 40,000 spectators cheered on the Scotland vs England match at Ibrox." We want to thank everyone who waited patiently and in good spirits as Hampden had a slower than anticipated start. But once up and running queues moved quickly and around 30,000 spectators were in for the first race. We will have our resources in earlier tomorrow and we have strengthened our transport plan and resources by adding additional capacity."While we're now past the busiest days of the games I would continue to urge spectators and the residents, businesses and other visitors to Glasgow to continue to bear in mind the additional pressures on the transport networks during this exciting time. Queuing may still be experienced at popular venues, events and stations. Thank you Glasgow.'' Super Sunday saw competition in athletics, badminton, boxing, track cycling, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting. Thousands cheered on athletes taking part in the marathon. Despite the damp conditions, large crowds gathered along the 26.2-mile course, which took in some of the city's landmarks. Australia's Michael Shelley took the first athletics gold of the Games as the runner-up from four years ago secured the men's marathon crown. Shelley crossed the line to win the men's race with a personal-best time of two hours, 11 minutes and 15 seconds. Kenya's Flomena Cheyech Daniel took the women's crown finishing in two hours, 26 minutes and 45 seconds. Derek Hawkins was the home nation's best performer in the men's competition, crossing the line ninth, while fellow Scottish runner Susan Partridge finished sixth in the women's race. Aly Dixon led after 45 minutes in the women's race but eventually tailed off and had to drop out with a calf problem, while her England team-mates Louise Damen and Amy Whitehead both managed a top-10 finish. English cyclist Laura Trott defied a kidney infection to win a thrilling duel with Wales' Elinor Barker in the women's points race, securing gold in a photo finish in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. Elsewhere in shooting, Charlotte Kerwood won gold for England in the women's double trap at the Barry Buddon Centre in Dundee, while team mate Rachel Parish took bronze. Meanwhile Mike Hooper, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said Rhys Williams's failed drugs test has not cast a cloud over the Glasgow 2014 Games. Williams, the co-captain of Wales' Commonwealth Games athletics squad, was provisionally suspended on Friday following a failed drugs test and misses the competition as a result. The European 400m hurdles champion became the second Welsh athlete to be forced out of the Games over an anti-doping rule violation, after 800m runner Gareth Warburton was withdrawn before the competition got under way. Meanwhile, a rugby fan stunned his girlfriend with a surprise proposal in front of a crowd of thousands. James Collette, 32, from London, popped the question to girlfriend Lucy Sargison, 27, at Ibrox stadium, where the pair had been watching the Rugby Sevens.