Summit was asked to realize this audacious feat of rigging - it was a world first for objects to be flown above a football pitch during a match - by their clients Production Team, led by Dave Keighley. The project was co-ordinated for Summit by Ken Nock. Summit used catenary technology, a method they’ve pioneered and perfected in the past, including at the M2002 Commonwealth Games.
The starballs, each weighing 20kg, were suspended in four lines of five, each row attached to a 240m length of catenary wire running lengthways above the stadium. The catenaries were anchored to the main supporting structure of the venue’s roof stands. The clever bit was working out the mathematics, explains Ken Nock. Summit worked alongside two sets of structural engineers - their own (Graphics Applications from Mold, North Wales) and Old Trafford’s (Roscoe Capita from Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire) to perfect a plan whereby the starballs would have the dramatic illusion of floating in the air!
Summit rigged four additional catenaries to fly an overhead giro-stabilized camera weighing 50kg (for Aerial Camera Systems of Godalming, Surrey) over the centre of the pitch. The catenaries were pre-rigged the week before the event. As the starballs - made by Air Artists - only stayed fully inflated for 24 hours at a time, they were suspended overnight before the event. The wires were dropped in and Ken Nock and his team of nine Summit riggers battled torrential rain and high winds to get the balls in place. When the wires were back up in position above the stadium, they were tensioned with tirfors. Guys wires were then attached to the bottoms of the balls to minimise wind buffeting.
The result and effect was stunning - both in reality and on TV. Dave Keighley commented that Production Team and their clients were delighted with Summit’s lateral thinking and attention to detail. The event was watched by a massive TV audience in over 200 countries. Over 100 broadcasters provided 300 hours of coverage on match night, and over 1000 TV commentators and technical staff were on duty at Old Trafford. All 62,295 tickets to the match were completely sold out.
(Lee Baldock)
