London 2012: Paralympic Flame to visit iconic London locations

Sarah Shaffi, Olympics editor (news) Wednesday, August 15, 2012
1:06 PM

The Paralympic Flame will be created from four flames lit at the tops of the four highest peaks in the home nations.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) today also announced the Flame would visit landmarks including the Abbey Road crossing, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London Zoo and Picadilly Circus during a 24-hour relay from Stoke Mandeville to the Olympic Stadium.

National flames will be created at Scafell Pike in England, Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa in Wales, Ben Nevis in Scotland and Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland on August 22.

Groups of young disabled and non-disabled Scouts from communities near to the peaks will ascend the mountains, and at the top they will use a ferrocerium rod and strike it against a rough steel surface to create the sparks that will light the flame.

The four individual Flames will then be placed in miner’s lanterns and transferred to the nation’s capital cities where they will each become the focus for a day of Paralympic celebrations.

The flames will then be taken to Stoke Mandeville, the spiritual home of the Paralympic movement, where they will be united during a special ceremony on August 28 to create the London 2012 Paralympic Flame, which will then start its 24-hour relay to the Olympic Stadium.

Seb Coe, chairman of LOCOG, said: “We have created a unique identity for the Paralympic Torch Relay which will be a celebration of courage, determination, inspiration and equality that every Paralympian represents.

“By creating the four Flames through human endeavour at the four highest peaks in the UK we will ensure that the spirit of each home nation is represented in the Paralympic Flame.

“Today we invite people to show their support for the Paralympic Torch Relay, whether it’s taking lanterns along to a Flame Festival or Celebration, supporting a Torchbearer or getting together to line the route of the 24 hour relay and help us lead the way to the Paralympic Games.”

During the Paralympic Torch Relay, 116 teams of five Torchbearers will carry the Flame from Stoke Mandeville to London.

Starting at 8pm on Tuesday, August 28, the 24-hour overnight relay route will see the Paralympic Flame carried 92 miles by 580 inspirational torchbearers.

It will visit all six Olympic host boroughs, and highlights of the day include the Flame being carried over Tower Bridge at 1,12pm on Wednesday, August 29.

A team of torchbearers will take the Flame to Hackney Town Hall at 6.20pm, and it will be taken to a community celebration in Marsh Lane Playing Fields, Waltham Forest, at 7.30pm.

The Torch will be at the community live site at Stratford Park, Newham, at 9.57pm, before it makes its way to the Olympic Stadium.