Kent's ready to welcome the Olympic Torch in 2012
A report on Kent's 'Visioning Event' for the arrival of the 2012 Olympic Torch into Dover and the possibilities for the ongoing relay through Kent.
As well as the community and schools' work, the team have also been gathering some of the latest information on how the Torch relay may look as it travels nationally and across the region. This letter briefly summarises the latest intelligence on the Torch’s arrival and planned relay through the UK.
The UK domestic Olympic Torch Relay will begin 80 days before the start of the Games (which means a start in early May 2012). The Torch will visit all 66 cities, all 21 Live sites and all 28 UNESCO heritage sites within the UK. Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, St Martin’s Church and Dover will therefore certainly be visited according to current thinking. There will be 10,000 runners – with a large proportion being young people – each running 300 metres. The Paralympic Torch Relay will be run for seven to ten days, and may be run for 24 hours each day!
It is anticipated that there will be an ‘event’ on every evening of the Relay, with discussions taking place between LOCOG and nations and regions about how the events may look and feel. The events themselves would be organised locally. KCC is interested in finding out the details currently of any events that may already be happening during that 80-day period so that we have the information prepared for LOCOG as they start to consult the regions.
The Cultural Olympiad Major Project ‘Discovering Places’ may be the lead mechanism for these ‘days out around the Torch’.
We have been advised that the LOCOG Board will determine at the end of September the likely process for determining the route of the Olympic Torch Relay. The Kent 2012 team is continuing to press widely for support for the Torch to enter the UK through Kent and Dover, and we will continue to update you on progress over the next few months in the hope that our efforts will be successful.
Thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Michael Hill OBE
