Selasa, 21 Agustus 2012

Climbers create Paralympic flames

Paralympic torchThe Paralympic flame will be used to light torches for the 24-hour relay

Four teams will begin scaling the highest peaks of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland at dawn to create the Paralympic flames.

Once at the summits of Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Slieve Donard, they will strike flint against steel to spark the flames.

They will then be carried down in lanterns ahead of celebrations in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

The Paralympic Games opening ceremony takes place on Wednesday 29 August.

The teams are made up of Scouts, mountain guides and people with disabilities, and are expected to take about four hours to reach the peaks.

Mountaineer Kevin Shields, who has epilepsy and is missing part of his left hand, is in the Scottish group.

FLAME FESTIVALS

  • London, 24 August - Trafalgar Square
  • Belfast, 25 August - City Hall and Stormont
  • Edinburgh, 26 August - The Mound and Meadowbank Sports Centre
  • Cardiff, 27 August - City Hall and Roald Dahl Place

He was the first disabled climber to enter the Ice World Cup and has scaled some of the most challenging mountains in the UK.

He said: "It is such an honour to be included in the Paralympic Flame creation. Ben Nevis is such a unique place of beauty and the perfect setting for this once in a lifetime moment".

The teams will use a ferrocerium rod and strike it against a rough steel surface to produce the sparks that will create the flame.

In London a ceremonial cauldron will be lit in Trafalgar Square, Belfast's festival will have a lantern procession outside City Hall and a cauldron-lighting outside Stormont.

Scotland's flame will light a ceremonial cauldron on the Mound in Edinburgh and a lantern procession at Meadowbank Sports Centre, while Cardiff's ceremony will include a cauldron-lighting outside City Hall and a lantern procession in Roald Dahl Place.

The flames will then unite in the home of the Paralympic movement, Stoke Mandeville, ahead of a 24-hour torch relay which starts at 20:00 BST on 28 August and travels overnight to London.

It will see the Paralympic flame carried 92 miles by 580 torchbearers, working in teams of five, from Stoke Mandeville Stadium through Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and all six of London's host boroughs to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

There it will be used to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Games on the evening of 29 August.

Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport is gearing up for its busiest day for athletes arriving ahead of the Paralympics.

British Airways said in the run-up to the Games it would be flying in teams from 25 countries, including ParalympicsGB.

Along with the athletes, the airline is also transporting equipment such as 300 wheelchairs, firearms, weapon bags, physiotherapist cases, bike boxes, tandem bikes, bow and arrows, hand cycles and boccia kits.

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