OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY: Week six from Manchester to Derby

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Posted: Saturday 23rd June 2012 | 13:42

KINDLED by the rays of the sun in Ancient Olympia, the Olympic torch finally arrives in the UK after a week-long journey around the home of the Games in Greece. Over the next ten weeks more than 8,000 people will carry the torch – from the young to the old, the well-known to the deserving.

HERO: Four-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy will carry the torch in Manchester home of British cycling (Getty Images)

JUNE 23 - DAY 36 - LYTHAM ST ANNE'S - MANCHESTER

Four-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy will carry the torch in the Manchester home of Britain's all-conquering track cycling team.

In addition British Cycling president Brian Cookson will be among the torchbearers, as will be Geoff Cooke, the cycling coach who guided Hoy's early track career.

“I have known Sir Chris Hoy since he started cycling on the track and have watched, not always from a distance, as he has climbed the ladder of fame," said Cooke.

"For me to receive his nomination to be a torchbearer for the London 2012 Olympics Relay is honestly the greatest accolade I have ever had.

"Chris is a truly special person, everyone knows that, but when I carry that torch on 23 June in Manchester he will make me special, for a little while.”

Among the other inspirational torchbearers is Martin Hewitt, 30. He was selected for overcoming the injuries he sustained as a soldier in Afghanistan to become part of the British Disabled Ski Team and to take part in the expedition to the North Pole which was featured in the BBC1 programme, Harry’s Arctic Heroes.

KEY TIMINGS - 06:05 - Royal Lytham and St Anne's, Fylde

RISING STAR: Shanaze Reade, the world champion BMX hopeful, will be a torchbearer when the flame travels through Salford (Getty Images)

JUNE 24 - DAY 37 - SALFORD - LEEDS

Another Olympic bound cyclist, BMX hopeful Shanaze Reade, will be among today's torchbearers - as will Para cyclist Jon-Allan Butterworth.

The relay will start out from the new home of BBC Sport in Salford's Media City and stop at Manchester United's Old Trafford home, which hosts the Team GB football men's opening fixture against Senegal in just over a month.

Frank Rothwell, 76, who competed as a weightlifter at the 1972 Munich Games is also amongst the torchbearers

KEY TIMINGS - 06:00 - MediaCityUK, Salford, 06:25 - Old Trafford, Trafford, 17:50 - Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds

ORGANISER: Seb Coe will carry the torch during its two day stop in Sheffield - where the London 2012 chairman started his athletic career (Getty Images)

JUNE 25 - DAY 38 - LEEDS - SHEFFIELD

London 2012 chairman Seb Coe will carry the Olympic torch in Sheffield - where his athletics career started.

"Obviously for me Sheffield was where all my athletics really happened, so that was the obvious place to be involved," he said.

Also carrying the torch through will be 18-year-old Carys Hall, a keen athletics fan who has volunteered at many sporting events in Sheffield.

KEY TIMING - 07:15 - Leeds Town Hall, Leeds, 10:47 - Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield National Coal Mining Museum, nr Wakefield

JUNE 26 - DAY 39 - SHEFFIELD - CLEETHORPES

The day will start at Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium, a regular athletics venue, and conclude on the light railway in the seaside resort of Cleethorpes.

Torchbearer Leah Wren, 17, was nominated by her younger sister Georgia for her community work.

She volunteers as a young leader for the Brownies, is an active member of Doncaster Youth Council and a member of the Doncaster Children's Trust Broad.

She said: "I was really excited and had to contain my excitement when I learned I was a torchbearer because I was on a train. I was over the moon just to have even been nominated.

"To be one of them is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it's quite exciting."

Another torchbearer is Ben Parkinson, who lost his legs in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2006.

Among the inspirational torchbearers is volunteer sports organiser John Curry, 62, who will carry the torch in Wrawby and 15-year old Saphron Newman, who has been nominated for her involvement in disabled athletics.

KEY TIMINGS - 07:30 - Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, 08:12 - Magna Science Adventure Centre, Rotherham, 18:35 - Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, Cleethorpes

JUNE 27 - DAY 40 - GRIMSBY - LINCOLN

Boston's Eileen Daubney, 82, is recognised for her continued volunteering work and will carry the flame through Grimsby today.

Among the other torchbearers are talented footballer Courtney Limb, 15, and keen skier Jade Etherington, 21.

As well as carrying the torch through Lincoln, she is hoping to qualify as a Paralympian in the 2014 Olympic Games with the British Disabled Ski Team.

Etherington suffers from glaucoma and Axenfield’s Syndrome, a genetic condition causing a blockade of fluid in the eye, leaving her partially sighted.

KEY TIMINGS - 06:10 - Dock Tower, Grimsby

INSPIRATION: Special Olympian Stephanie Handojo travels from Indonesia to carry the Olympic flag in recognition of her success in Athens last year

JUNE 28 - DAY 41 - LINCOLN - NOTTINGHAM

Age certainly hasn't wearied 75-year old Dot Fraser, who carries the torch today.

She is eldest member of the Lincoln Wellington Athletic Club, but wins the most medals of all the group, as well as holding every club record for sprinters over the age of 55. She travels all over the UK to compete in various running events.

Stephanie Handojo travels to the UK from Indonesia in recognition of her achievements at the Special Olympics.

Stephanie started swimming when she was three years old, as her mother Maria felt this would help her daughter’s motor skills and muscle development.

“Once, during a swimming competition she almost drowned in the pool,” said Maria. “That traumatised her and she didn’t swim for three years after that.”

Maria’s approach to help Stephanie conquer her fear was getting in the water with Stephanie, carrying her in her arms to the middle of the pool. It was Maria’s way of showing her daughter that she would always be there to keep her safe.

And at last year’s 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece, she won gold in the 50m breaststroke.

The relay will also visit the National Ice Centre in Nottingham - the hometown of Olympic legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. What chance their surprise involvement?

KEY TIMINGS - 07:55 - Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln, 10:51 - Major Oak, Edwinstowe, 15:05 - Belton House, Grantham, 17:12 - National Watersports Centre, Nottingham, 18:20 - National Ice Centre, Nottingham

JUNE 29 - DAY 42 - NOTTINGHAM - DERBY

The Olympic flame will be carried by a torchbearer on the sky-ride at the Heights of Abraham in Matlock Bath.

From Matlock the procession will visit Chatsworth House, famous for its part as Pemberley, the residence of Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.

Majorette troupe founder Bill Weston is among the torchbearers in his Buxton hometown while 72-year old swimming volunteer Beryl Horton is also honoured.

Youngsters Rebecca Lowther, Scott Hookway and Shaun Brailsford, all 12, will be among the torchbearers.

KEY TIMINGS - 08:15 - Nottingham Castle, Nottingham, 10:33 - Newstead Abbey, Nottingham, 13:50 - Heights of Abraham, Matlock Bath, 15:35 - Chatsworth House, Peak District