Torch relay route for London 2012 Olympics unveiled

May 18, 2011, 8:44 GMT

London - The torch relay for the London Olympics will start on May 19, 2012, at Land's End and cover the whole of Britain before culminating in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the Games' opening ceremony on July 27, 2012.

The organizing committee LOCOG said on Wednesday that some 8,000 torch bearers will carry the flame through the country on a 12,800-kilometres course over 70 days which will allow 95 per cent of the population to be within an hour's travel of the relay.

Applicantions to become a torch bearer were due to start at 1000 GMT Wednesday, LOCOG said.

'The Olympic torch relay brings London 2012 to the doorsteps of the UK giving everybody the chance to celebrate the London Games. It's a magnificent showcase for the country and a chance to mark the achievements of inspirational people in our communities,' said Olympics minister Hugh Robertson.

LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said: 'The Olympic flame will shine a light right across every nation and region of the UK and showcase the very best of who we are and where we live.'

Unlike at past Games, London's Olympic torch will not travel the world but will arrive straight from Greece where it is lit in ancient Olympia.

Unveiling the first 74 locations of the relay, LOCOG said that the relay will cover the whole country once it sets off in Cornwall at the western tip of the British mainland.

The relay will visit cities including Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Oxford, Southampton and Dover.

Island visits will go to the Isle of Man, Isle of Lewis, Guernsey, Jersey, Orkney and Shetland.

LOCOG said the relay will visit 'places of outstanding natural beauty, sports venues and community hubs,' to be announced at a later stage this year.

There are also plans to bring the torch relay to Dublin.

'The first locations on the route confirmed today give a flavour of the reach the Olympic Torch Relay will have around the UK and how extensive the opportunity for starting to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic Games will be,' Coe said.

Read more about Torch