Preparations for the 2012 Olympics reached two key milestones today, with the first round of ticket allocation reaching its conclusion while test events began in central London.

All those sports fans who have nervously been watching their bank balances for the past few weeks can now breathe a sign of relief.

Organisers confirmed all monies due in the first round of applications was taken from ticket holders before midnight last night.

Now, just four weeks to wait to find out what tickets were allocated in the ballot!

On the technical side, the Marathon and Race Walk test events, the first events in sports testing programme, took place in central London.

The events focused on the timing and technology elements of operations, as well as ensuring race management and logistics are on course.

Three wheelchair athletes and 50 club runners from across London were invited to take part in the Marathon event, including 52-year-old Chris Finill of Harrow Athletics Club.

Chris has run in every single London Marathon and his fellow runners decided that, rather than have a sprint down The Mall at the end of the race, they would acknowledge his outstanding achievement by letting him cross the finish line first.

Debbie Jevans, director of sport at the London 2012 Organising Committee, said: “We are very pleased with the way things worked at our first test event.

“We were specifically looking at athletes on the course and things like how the wheelchair athletes were able to turn.

“We were looking at all the timing, scoring and technology arrangements which worked well.

“The feedback we got from the runners was very encouraging, they loved the course.  We will be looking at the turns again for the wheelchair athletes.

“After all the planning it is good to see events actually happening and taking shape.”

City.Mobi

Also in Europe today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to London. 

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

London.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.