Olympic torch to light up the strath
THE 2012 London Olympics may be taking place hundreds of miles away, but residents of Aviemore, Grantown and Carrbridge have a great opportunity to get involved in this spectacular sporting occasion, or at least an important piece of it.
More than one billion people are expected to watch the opening ceremony in London next August, where the Olympic flame will play a central role. Carried into the stadium by a relay of runners and passed to the final torchbearer, the flame is used to ceremoniously light the Olympic cauldron, indicating the beginning of the games.
The Olympic Flame is taken from Greece and will arrive in the UK on May 18, ready to start its marathon journey around the UK. Representing peace, unity and friendship, the flame will make a 70-day journey around the UK towards the stadium carried by 8,000 inspirational torchbearers in relays.
The people of Aviemore, Carrbridge and Grantown will be able to see the Olympic torch at close quarters, following the announcement this week that the torch relay will go through all three communities.
It will arrive in the Highlands on Saturday, June 9 and be carried by a team of torchbearers, each of whom has been nominated by members of their community as being an "unsung hero".
The torchbearers will carry it through Glencoe, Ballachullish, Fort William and Spean Bridge before travelling up the A82 to Fort Augustus, Invermoriston and Drumnadrochit and then into Inverness where an evening celebration is planned at The Northern Meeting Park.
The following day the Torch will make an appearance at John O’Groats, Kirkwall and Lerwick, then on Monday it leaves Inverness for Stornoway before returning to the mainland to pass through Aviemore, Carrbridge and Grantown on Spey en route to Aberdeen via Tomintoul.
Early in the new year Highland Council staff will arrange to meet with representatives of the communities the torch is passing through to encourage them to host a welcome on behalf of their surrounding communities.
Full details of the relay will be announced closer to the time, inviting people from across the area to welcome the Olympic Flame in these locations.
Catriona Strivens, chair of the Badenoch and Strathspey Sports Council, headed up a campaign earlier in the year to bring the torch to Aviemore and she is delighted that their voices have been listened to.
"There are so many local Olympic connections around Aviemore," she said, "from past Olympians to the training base at Glenmore Lodge, and even the Grantown Sports Centre is named after the Olympic cyclist Craig McLean.
"We were proud to welcome Sebastian Coe, chair of the London Olympic Games Organising Committee, to unveil our Olympic Tribute statue in 2007, and at present have talented young athletes training for the winter Olympics. The visit of the torch will certainly inspire them and I’m sure the town will be partying."
Ms Strivens said they would be talking possible celebrations for the torch at the Sports Council meeting tonight (Wednesday).
She said: "The community council also worked hard to bring the flame via Badenoch and Strathspey, and Aviemore. There may be some funding available, however we’ll hear about that nearer the time.
"There are a few locals who I know have been nominated as torch bearers, however the Olympic committee have said nominees in the system have a 1:18 chance of being selected so we’ll just need to wait to hear more news."
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey MP Danny Alexander welcomed the announcement.
Mr Alexander said he had written to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, asking for the Strath to be included on the torch relay’s route in recognition of the area’s close links with Olympic sport.
Commenting, Mr Alexander said: "It’s great news that the Olympic torch will make no fewer than four stops in our local area as it travels from Stornoway to Aberdeen on Monday 11th June next year – the twenty-fourth day of its journey to London.
"The Strath has a particularly strong connection to Olympic sport, so it is appropriate that the torch’s journey will bring it here and include several local stops."
