Olympic flame to travel to London by train, boat and plane

[John Ashworth]

Olympic flame to travel to London by trains, boats and planes

London 2012 organisers unveil torch's full 8,000-mile route round UK – including trips by paddle steamer and balloon

Owen Gibson
The Guardian, Monday 7 November 2011

Drawing as much on Wacky Races as the traditions of the Olympic Games, London 2012 organisers will on Monday unveil the Olympic flame's full 8,000-mile route through 1,018 cities, towns and villages.

Next year the torch will travel over the Eden Project in a balloon, up Snowdon on a train, in a sidecar at the Isle of Man TT, across Windermere on a paddle steamer, off the Tyne bridge on a zipwire, down rapids in the Lee Valley and up a chairlift on the Isle of Wight before travelling along the Thames to the Olympic stadium.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) is targeting the torch relay, which begins in Land's End on 19 May next year, as a key moment in igniting enthusiasm for the Games.

The London 2012 chairman, Lord Coe, said it would launch a "local leaders" scheme aimed at encouraging community leaders to stage their own celebrations as the torch passes through their area.

"I don't want to be too prescriptive about this. It's not Big Brother sitting in headquarters telling people how to enjoy themselves," said Coe.

"But whether it's inviting friends round for Olympic-themed quizzes or getting everyone on your street to welcome the flame in your community, for three people or 300, it's all about organising celebrations at a local level. We saw the appetite for that around the royal wedding and that's what we want to do." There will be a separate programme aimed at schools.

The torch will go within 10 miles of 95% of the UK population and will pass through hundreds of landmarks including Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Loch Ness and Stormont.

When the flame arrives, from Olympia in the Peloponnese where the first ancient Games was held, it will begin a 70-day journey around England, Wales, Northern Island, Scotland and outlying islands.

A visit to Dublin is expected to be added to the itinerary but has yet to be confirmed. Coe said it was the subject of discussions between governments.

The torch will pass through every county in England and every local authority in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Earlier this year, Locog unveiled the locations where the torch would stop overnight but on Monday a far more detailed route will be revealed with details of all the "population centres" that it will visit.

Because of the desire to pass through so many towns and villages, and feature so many picturesque landmarks, the procession will only be in "torchbearer mode" for 60% of the time.

At other times the torch will be in convey between locations. Coe said the approach had been employed by previous Games.

"Lunch breaks, evening celebrations and transfer from place to place will be in convey and that makes up the rest of the time. In order to get it from place to place there will be times when it's not a continuous torch relay.

"That's not unusual. It's pretty much the practice for all torch relays – it certainly was in Sydney. But most of the time it will be torchbearer to torchbearer."

The 7,200 members of the public who have been selected to carry the torch, half of them aged between 12 and 24, will find out if they have been chosen from 8 December onwards and confirmed by February next year.

"I want to drive a view here that rather than the slightly tabloidy view sometimes about the nature of young people, I live in a world where they make extraordinary commitments," said Coe.

"You will see in the nature of the people who get nominated, particularly the young people, that they're doing extraordinary things. I genuinely hope that people see this for what it is – a celebration of local commitment and achievement."

Distribution of the places was divided equally between Locog and the three "presenting partners" – Lloyds TSB, Samsung and Coca-Cola – and each has been running competitions for members of the public to nominate worthy individuals. Each person will run around 320 metres with the torch.

The Metropolitan Police is training a team of 28 dedicated officers to guard the flame as it makes its way around the country, but organisers are determined to avoid the impression of overbearing security that has clouded previous torch relays.

The Beijing torch relay in 2008, the last that ventured beyond the borders of the host country before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed its policy, was chiefly remembered for protests and heavy-handed security.

In Vancouver, protesters disrupted the last few days of the event, sparking counter-demonstrations from those supporting it.

At each of the overnight stops, sponsors, Locog and the relevant local authority will stage a nightly live show that it is hoped will catalyse support for the Games. Coe insisted that the heavy involvement of the three sponsors would not result in an overly corporate feel.

As the relay nears its climax, a week before the opening ceremony on 20 July the flame will spend its first night in the capital at the Tower of London before travelling around each London borough.

It will begin its final journey up the Thames from Hampton Court Palace on 27 July, before arriving at the Olympic stadium in Stratford for the opening ceremony – the details of which remain a closely guarded secret.

Coe said the flame had undergone extensive testing in order to ensure it wouldn't go out as it was carried by the many and varied forms of transport.

"It was a way of showing there are all sorts of mode of transport, whether rowing at Henley on Thames or a chairlift on the Needles, and we wanted to be creative about it."