OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY: Canoeing trip proves too much for the flame

By Sportsbeat staff

IT'S been tested in a wind tunnel, organisers joked it could withstand a full blast from a garden hose and it's endured, successfully, the very worst of the worst British summer in memory. 

WILD RIDE: Zachary Franklin carries the Olympic Flame on a raft down the Lee Valley White Water Centre on the Torch Relay leg between Harlow and Waltham Cross (Getty Images

But taking the Olympic torch down the white water rapids of the Olympic slalom canoeing venue proved just too much for its flickering flame.

British junior team canoeist Zachary Franklin, 20, tried his best but eventually in the battle between fire and water there was only one winner.

The torch was later relit from the mother flame, which is carried in a miner's lantern in the relay convoy.

Despite the terrible weather, thousands are still lining the relay route with celebrity chief Jamie Oliver was cheered as he ran through his home village in Newport, Essex. Former Olympian Iwan Thomas later lit a ceremonial cauldron at an evening celebration in Cambridge.

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