Olympics Flame In Moray

20 JAN2012

The Walk, Jog, Run in Moray project is getting in on the Olympics 2012 act organising a series of five exciting mass participation events taking place throughout the Moray region during the summer. Moray 2012 isn't part of the official games but these community-based events will complement and commemorate the 2012 Games in London.

These one-off events are being promoted and coordinated by the Walk, Jog, Run in Moray Partnership, which is a highly successful consortium of 20 walking, jogscotland and running groups based in the Moray area.

The Partnership's chair Nick Brown said: "There is much excitement and anticipation surrounding the Olympic Games coming to Britain, but London is a long way from Moray and few people from the area have been lucky enough to get tickets for official events. We therefore thought that we should try and bring the excitement and atmosphere of the London Games to Moray by organising events across the region that both coincide with and complement the official ones."

One of the five events is a torch relay involving 2012 people - almost one in 40 of the local population, so the expectation is that people of all shapes, sizes, age and ability will take part.

Meanwhile, the other four events planned for Moray will take place in August. Nick Brown continued: "We will have race events in the early evening at venues across Moray just ahead of the equivalent events in London. At the end of our events, everyone will gather together in a social setting to watch the actual Olympic races live on a big screen. That way, all our participants should connect more strongly with the London Games and also better appreciate the amazing performances of the elite athletes."

Participants are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible in order to make sure that people get their chance to bear the torch as part of the relay at their preferred location. School groups will be able to sign up through their Active Schools Co-ordinators, but individuals and other groups must register at the Moray 2012 website.

THE MORAY EVENTS

• Torch Relay around Moray's main towns & villages, involving 2,012 people, between June 8-13.
• 10K on August 4 in Buckie.
• 3K on August 8 in Elgin.
• Street relay races on August 10 in Forres.
• 5K on August 11 in Dufftown.