GLASGOW is geared up for one of the biggest weekends in its history as hundreds of thousands of spectators and visitors flock to the city for the Commonwealth Games.
With almost 350,000 tickets sold for events being held over two days - and tens of thousands more expected to flood the streets to support tomorrow's Marathon - it is being dubbed Glasgow 2014's Super Weekend.
Team Scotland's gold rush continued on day two with three gold medals, taking the tally to seven from a total of 15 medals.
And as the buzz around the city continues, public transport is braced for its toughest test of the Games. The Subway is expected to come under the greatest pressure as commuters travel to and from Ibrox stadium for the Rugby Sevens tournament today and tomorrow. The network will operate from 6am to 1am on both days to cope with the thousands of extra passengers expected.
A spokeswoman for SPT, which runs the Subway, said the demand had been "manageable so far" but bosses were expecting a surge in use today.
She added: "We always knew this was going to be the 'super weekend' of the Games. We have lots of extra staff to help tourists and dedicated gates to allow passengers to move through the stations as efficiently as possible, but we would urge the public to plan ahead."
Some 1,350,000 extra journeys are expected to be made by road and rail over the weekend, 780,000 of them tomorrow alone.
Strathclyde Park in Lanarkshire will also host its second day of Games action today with the mixed relay triathlon, putting a strain on routes between Glasgow and Lanarkshire that were yesterday besieged with delays and cancellations as the heatwave caused points failures on various lines.
Ibrox, Exhibition Centre and Mount Florida railway stations are also set to be among the busiest in the city centre as athletics gets under way at Hampden stadium.
Roads will be closed from 3am until early evening tomorrow along the Marathon route, which starts and ends at Glasgow Green.
The retail sector has already been experiencing a major boost. Independent sports store Greaves has witnessed scores of international athletes come through its doors in the past week. Spokesman Stephen McCranor said footfall was already up and that this weekend should be "massive" for retailers.
Billy Gold is the owner of the traditional Hielan Jessie bar on Glasgow's Gallowgate in the city's east end, as well as the representative for the Scottish Licensed Trade Association in the west of the country.
He said the last few days were as close as the city had come to experiencing an international feel, with several Caribbean teams basing themselves in the bar in their spare hours.
Mr Gold said: "We've never seen anything like it, the weather, the visitors, that cosmopolitan feel."
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick said: "It has been everything we could have wanted and more. Now we can look forward to a bumper weekend programme of sport and culture, and Glasgow partying with a smile on its face."
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