A Friday To Remember At The Palace

Friday night down at the Palace, just like it used to be. That's what I'll be doing tonight, but I'm not talking about Buckingham Palace (she's not invited me) nor Victoria Palace (already seen Billy Elliott) nor even the Alexander Palace, transformed into our best venue for darts. No, I'm talking Crystal Palace where the two-day Aviva London Grand Prix takes place at what will be the last significant meeting at the famous old venue for quite a while.

Next summer the Olympic Stadium will hold centre stage where a reasonably significant athletics meeting will be the focal point of the Games.

The famous old south London venue, in its bowl surrounded by Crystal Palace Park, and not far from Selhurst Park, may be seeing its last major track and field event and, like all famous old British stadia, not before time. The nostalgics will rue the end of major athletics at the Palace. The visionaries will look forward to watching the sport in Stratford, not just at the Olympics and beyond when West Ham United take over the venue but continue to stage athletics.

Of course the new stadium in the east end also means the end of Upton Park too. What lies ahead for Crystal Palace no-one is quite sure. The national sports centre may remain, and events will no doubt continue to be staged at the track. But tonight could very well be the last "big" night of athletics at the old stadium and I, together with Lord Coe, Mo Farah, Asafa Powell, David Rushida and others, will be there to relish it.