YORK will get to see the Olympic torch next year as it makes its way around the UK on its way to the games in London.

The torch may also travel through Tadcaster and Selby.

The Olympic flame will arrive in the UK from Greece on Friday, May 18, 2012. The 70-day torch relay will start at Lands End on the morning of May 19, arriving in York on Tuesday, June 19.

Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee, said: “We have no doubt that the welcome City of York Council will provide will demonstrate how the spirit of the Olympic Games is reaching out across the UK.”

Kersten England, the city council’s chief executive, said the announcement was a great honour for the city.

She said: “York is such a great backdrop with the Minster, the rivers, Shambles and the city walls.

“We want as many people as possible to apply to be torch bearers in the city and challenge them to think of unusual ways to transport the torch around the city.”

York is one of 66 Evening Celebration locations across the UK with evening events offering thousands of people the opportunity to get involved in celebrations and share in the Olympic spirit.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said he had already met officials and was confident the towns of Selby and Tadcaster would also be included in the torch’s tour of the region.

Mr Adams said: “I’m very confident we can get it through Selby. York will be a stop-over and I think Hull is, but I have been putting the case forward for Selby too.

“I’m very confident that Selby will be a place where the torch is carried through, and I am very hopeful about Tadcaster as well.”

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said the full route of the torch would be announced in the autumn, but meetings had already taken place to discuss the plans for the region.

“What we know is that the torch is going to be in Yorkshire for six days, and we think it is going to cover about 500 miles, so our aim is to try to make sure that no one is more than half an hour away from the torch, but the national plan is one hour.”

Assistant chief constable Tim Madgwick, who carried the torch at the 2007 Special Olympics, said: “Hosting the Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime event which has the potential to bring our communities together as never before, bringing out the best in community spirit.”

• RESIDENTS of York can get involved in the Olympic relay, to provide entertainment or run alongside the torch on its journey through the city on June 19 next year.

Anyone who wants to take part should go to york.gov.uk and follow the link for the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay in York.

York Press: The Press - Comment

York all fired up for the Olympics

INEVITABLY, next year’s Olympics will be known as the London games. But when, in 2005, Britain won the right to stage the 2012 event, it was always stressed these games would be for the whole of Britain.

We have already seen some evidence of that. York is likely to play host to a number of small national teams from Africa in the run-up to the games, and leading British gymnasts are also expected to train here regularly.

But nothing spells Olympics quite so powerfully as the Olympic Flame.

So it is wonderful that York has been chosen as one of the stop-over locations for the Olympic Torch in its 70-day relay journey around Britain.

As council chief executive Kersten England says today, this is a real honour for the city. But we’re absolutely certain, too, that York will do the Olympics proud. Few cities will be able to provide a backdrop to the flame that can compare to the Minster, the city walls, Shambles and the two rivers.

June 19 next year promises to be a fantastic day – one when the people of York can really feel they share in the Olympic dream.

And if the torch really does pass through Selby and Tadcaster too, as many hope, then so much the better.

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