Olympic Flame Visit Callanish Stones

Day 24: Olympic Flame to Visit the Callanish Stones and Balmoral Castle During its journey From Stornoway to Aberdeen

On Monday 11th June, the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay – presented by Coca-Cola, Bank of Scotland and Samsung – will travel 138.42 miles through 17 communities on its journey from Stornoway to Aberdeen.

(PRWEB) June 11, 2012

On Monday 11th June, the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay – presented by Coca-Cola, Bank of Scotland and Samsung – will travel 138.42 miles through 17 communities on its journey from Stornoway to Aberdeen. 

• On Day 24 the Relay will travel 138.42 miles
• 109 inspirational Torchbearers will carry the Flame
• Evening celebration to take place in Castlegate Square
• Images from the day will be available to download from here throughout the day

109 Torchbearers will carry the Flame before it arrives at the Evening Celebration in Aberdeen where a cauldron will be lit to mark the culmination of the day’s festivities. After the celebrations have finished, the Flame will be transferred to a lantern and it will stay in Aberdeen overnight.

The Flame will be carried through the following communities: Stornoway, Inverness, Aviemore, Carrbridge, Grantown-on-Spey, Tomintoul, Crathie, Ballater, Dinnet, Aboyne, Kincardine O’Neil, Banchory, Drumoak, Peterculter, Bieldside, Cults and Aberdeen.

Highlights for today are:

Stornoway

At 4.20am Kirsty Wade, 49, from the Isle of Lewis, will carry the Flame to the Callanish Stones for sunrise. There will be a lone piper at the stones wearing a specially commissioned gold and white Harris Tweed. Kirsty is a Commonwealth Triple Gold Medallist and competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She has since turned her talent to the community, working in the remote town of Stornoway to inspire hundreds of people to build and retain their fitness.

At 6.32am the first Torchbearer of the day will be Eilidth Mackenzie, 23, from Stornoway, who will start with the Flame at the front of the Western Isles Council. Eilidth was nominated for being the most successful track and fieldathlete produced by the Western Isles. She is currently aiming to represent Scotland in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

At 6.41am Beth Macleod, 37, from Linlithgow, will carry the Flame into the Town Square. Elizabeth was nominated following her successful rugby career where she represented Scotland 68 times and played in three World Cups.

At 7am Norman Mackenzie, 32, from Sandwick, will carry the Flame into the Community Festival at Lews Castle College. Norman was selected through the Samsung campaign for his success as two times Scottish and British Muay Thai boxing champion and his work in setting up Muay Thai boxing club in Stornoway.

At 7.05am John Mitchell, 31, from Stornoway, will carry the Flame on a quad bike. John, who is three times Quad Motor Cross Champion, was selected through the Coca Cola campaign.

At 7.31am Calum Macleod (48) and Keith Bray, 40, from Stornoway, will both carry the Flame at the Community Celebration at Lewis Athletics Track. They were both selected through the Bank of Scotland campaign. Calum has diabetes and he was devastated when his daughter was also diagnosed with it too. Both he and Keith decided to run the London Marathon to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and managed to raise £22,000.    

At 8.44am the Flame will depart from Stornoway Airport and head to Inverness.
Inverness to Aberdeen

At 10.09am the Flame will arrive at Inverness Airport.

At 10.39am Robert Young, 60, from Boat of Garten, will carry the Flame from Inverness Castle. Robert was nominated through LOCOG public nomination campaign for the work that he does with the British Paralympic Ski Team and Disability Snowsport UK.

At 2.35pm Lauren Fraser, 14, from Dingwall, will carry the Flame to Balmoral Castle. Lauren was selected through the Samsung campaign for her achievements in cross country running and football, as well as her fund raising activities.

At 8pm Evelyn Capper, 60, from Ellon, will carry the Flame into the Evening Celebration at Castlegate Square. She was selected through the Samsung campaign for her passion and commitment to foster caring. As a full time foster carer she has welcomed youngsters of varying abilities, from troubled backgrounds/ damaged homes and under some horrendous circumstances, and shown them love, warmth and effectively what life really should be like.

The evening celebration will take place in Castlegate Square. It will feature a variety of entertainment staged by LOCOG and the three Presenting Partners of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay - Coca-Cola, Bank of Scotland and Samsung - with support from Aberdeen City Council. The show will start at 6.30pm.

The line-up includes music from Emeli Sandé, a dance troupe who will provide a unique fusion of street performance, theatre and sport and dance act Twist and Pulse. There will also be entertainment from local acts staged by Aberdeen City Council.

Towards the end of the two-hour show, the last Torchbearer of the day in Aberdeen – Evelyn Capper -will light a celebration cauldron on stage at the event which will enable the Olympic Flame to be seen by the audience.

Torchbearer highlights:

Colin Montgomerie will carry the Flame in Aberdeen. Colin captained the victorious 2010 Ryder Cup Team and has won the European Order of Merit eight times. He has also won 41 tournaments around the world.

Abigail O’Grady, 19, from Morayshire, will carry the Flame in Grantown-on-Spey. She was nominated through the LOCOG public nomination campaign for her determination to overcome her autism and epilepsy to successfully learn kickboxing.

Angela Shearer, 27, from Huntly, will carry the Flame in Huntly. She was selected through the Coca-Cola Future Flames programme. Angela is a PE Teacher who has organised 'a relay for life' for cancer research for 11 years. So far her efforts have raised £500,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Roma Macleod, 20, from Callanish, will carry the Flame in Stornoway. She was nominated through Bank of Scotland's public nomination campaign who has been an inspirational figure in Hebridean Chocolates, a community owned social business providing training for young people with additional needs. She has completed her Modern Apprenticeship in a record 2 years and provides daily support to participants with additional needs.

Finlay Macleod, 16, from Inverness, will carry the Flame in Grantown-on-Spey. He was selected through the Samsung campaign. Finlay was born with no lower left arm, but it has never proved an obstacle to his love of sport and approach to life. He plays football, golf, basketball and is a member his local Boys Brigade. Everything he does is with great vigour and a ‘can-do’ attitude.

The Olympic Torch Relay will also include exciting moments with extreme heights, high speeds and breath-taking spectacles and the Flame will be travelling by different methods of transport including horseback, bicycle, tram and steam-train. Every county in England and every Local Authority area in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will host the Olympic Flame, with visits reaching as far north as Lerwick in Scotland to St Helier in the south, Lowestoft in the east and Enniskillen in the west. Many thousands of people are expected to welcome the Olympic Flame along the route each day and celebrate the achievements of the Torchbearers in parks, squares and streets right around the UK.

The convoy travelling with the Flame consists of 14 core vehicles, including a pilot car, Torchbearer drop-off and pick-up shuttles, Presenting Partner vehicles, a media vehicle, a command car and security vehicles. The lead convoy, including the Presenting Partner vehicles, will provide entertainment for the crowds. The Torchbearer will follow some 5 to 7 minutes later.

A crew of approximately 350 people will be working each day of the Relay. Core teams of LOCOG staff, the Metropolitan Police Torch Security Team, Presenting Partners, host Police Forces and host Local Authorities will be working together throughout the 70 days.

James Williams, Director, Olympic Torch Relay, Coca-Cola Northwest Europe & Nordics, said: “We’re twenty-four days into our incredible journey and today another Coca-Cola Future Flame will carry the Olympic Flame, with Angela Shearer running in Bieldside. We will also get everyone to Move to the Beat tonight as we bring Emeli Sandé to the stage in Aberdeen.”

Sally Hancock, Director, London 2012 Partnership at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “We are delighted to bring the excitement and inspiration of the Olympic Torch Relay to the Isle of Lewis and onwards from Inverness to Aberdeen. Bank of Scotland is creating as many opportunities as possible for people to get involved as the Olympic Flame passes their door. We are calling on everyone to cheer on their local Bank of Scotland Torchbearers – extraordinary people like Roma MacLeod and Sam MacPhee, running in Stornoway and Grantown-on-Spey. There will be celebrations in Stornoway to welcome the Flame and our troupe of performers, the Flame Followers, are lighting up the celebrations along the route ahead of the Relay before their Flame Followers Spectacular performance in Aberdeen tonight.”

Sunny Hwang, Vice President & Head of Global Sports Marketing, Samsung Electronics, said: "Samsung is delighted to be a Presenting Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay and we feel the Torchbearers selected really do demonstrate the ‘gone the extra mile’ community element that lies at the heart of our London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay campaign."

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office.

Notes to editors:

Each day two short packages of broadcast footage will be made available. The packages will be available via the Footage library – accessible from the Media Centre on london2012.com and direct from this linkhttp://footagelibrary.london2012.com. Media will need to register for access in advance. Registration is free.

The broadcast of the Olympic Torch Relay is provided for Editorial Use Only. There can be no commercial association, no third party association and no commercial/ad superimposition on the video footage, unless the prior written consent of the IOC is acquired.

About the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners:

As the longest standing Presenting Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, Coca-Cola will be using its heritage and experience to spread excitement across the UK ahead of London 2012. Coca-Cola's national nomination campaign - Future Flames – has focused on finding inspirational young people from across the country to have the once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame. This summer Coca-Cola will celebrate these Future Flames: young people who use their passions in areas like sport and physical activity, music and dance, and community and the environment; to spread happiness in their local communities.

As the only National Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Lloyds TSB will be taking the inspiration and excitement of the Olympic Flame right to the heart of communities across the UK. As part of Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of Scotland will be the National Presenting Partner in Scotland. We are creating as many opportunities as possible for communities the length and breadth of the UK to get involved as the Flame travels past their front doors.

Lloyds Banking Group is Britain’s biggest corporate investor in UK communities and in 2011 invested £85 million and as part of the Group’s Community Investment Programme, we’ve launched the Lloyds Banking Group Community Fund to give back to the communities in which we operate and pass through on our journey with the Olympic Flame. We’re inviting everyone to visit the Lloyds TSB stand at each Evening Celebration to vote for a community project in their area that inspires and supports young people. By voting at the Evening Celebration members of the public will automatically enter a draw to win four tickets to London 2012. The two projects that receive the most votes at each locality will each win a £5,000 grant from Lloyds Banking Group. At the Lloyds TSB site members of the public will also have the opportunity to have their photo taken with the Olympic Torch, meet Lloyds TSB Local Heroes – the future stars of Team GB and ParalympicsGB – and get up close to our Flame Followers.

As a Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Samsung aims to encourage everyone to be part of the greatest show on Earth to make London 2012 ‘Everyone’s Olympic Games.’ We aspire to offer new and memorable experiences for everyone around the world through our own innovative and smart wireless technology. Samsung is providing 1,360 Torchbearers, who have “gone the extra mile” by contributing to the local communities, through its worldwide public nomination campaign. In total over 25,000 nominations were received. Samsung will support towns and cities to celebrate the exciting moment of the Torch Relay and help showcase Great Britain’s cultural landmarks to provide a more enjoyable experience to everyone. The evening celebrations that will be staged by Samsung in 66 towns and cities throughout the Olympic Flame’s journey across the UK, will allow Samsung to entertain the community they are visiting. The Samsung caravan, complete with LED screen on the side showcasing runners and goodwill messages, will follow the Torchbearers around the UK cheering up everyone to celebrate the Torch Relay with music and interaction with local communities. It is Samsung’s ambition that London 2012 will be an event that reaches and involves more people than on any other Olympic Games occasion.

The Supporters of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay are:

Worldwide Olympic Partners Procter and Gamble and Visa, Tier One Partners adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT and EDF, Tier Three Providers Aggreko, Holiday Inn and NATURE VALLEY.

The BBC will be providing extensive coverage of the Torch Relay on television, radio and online. This will include special Breakfast shows on every BBC local radio station, and extended live coverage of an evening celebration event in every Nation and English Region. Full details of the coverage will be at bbc.co.uk/2012.

London 2012 Games partners:

The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow Chemical Company, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.

LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS.

There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield