Olympic Torch Relay - Highlands Busy

1st June 2012

An unprecedented weekend of entertainment and activity, which will bring significant economic benefit and international media exposure for the highlands will take place over the extended weekend from Friday 8 June to Monday 11 June when the Highlands hosts a number of major events.

· Olympic Torch Relay
· Olympic Torch evening event - Northern Meeting Park (Inverness)
· Olympic Torch Event - John O'Groats
· Curtis Cup - Nairn
· Mountain Bike World Cup - Fort William
· Rock Ness

Multi-agency groups, involving the Council, Police, and other key agencies, have been active throughout the Highlands for several months to prepare for the Big Weekend. Over the weekend a Joint Operations Centre will be operational at the Burnett Road Police Base in Inverness. Neil Gillies, Director of TEC Services, is our Silver Commander and will be based there.

Saturday 9 June:
The torch arrives in the Highlands at Glencoe. It will be in torchbearer mode through Glencoe at 12.30 pm; Ballachulish Bridge (12.51) and arrives at Fort William at 1.30 pm. There is community entertainment around the Lochaber Leisure Centre. It will also be in torchbearer mode through Spean Bridge, Fort Augustus, Drumnadrochit before arriving at Millerton Bridge, Torvean at 6.10 pm. At Fort Augustus and Drumnadrochit, community celebrations will take place at the primary schools.

The torch relay travels via Glenurquart Road, Kenneth Street, Friars Bridge, Academy Street, Bank Street, Ness Bridge, Ness Walk and Ardross Street before arriving at the Northern Meeting Park at 6.50 pm.

A travel plan has been prepared for the Torch Relay in Inverness. The main issue is that all cars must be removed from the entire length of the route.

Northern Meeting Park - Saturday 9 June

Doors open at 4 pm on Saturday 9 June and a two-hour concert begins at 5 pm. The first 10 minutes of the event will feature the Inverness Festivals Band and the last 10 minutes will feature fiddler, Bruce MacGregor and Friends. The rest of the show is devoted to the generic LOCOG presentation, with each of the three main sponsors having an act. The biggest name is Emili Sande, a Scottish songwriter and singer who won a BRIT Award recently and is quite a big attraction. She is on stage between 6.16 and 6.36 - just before the torch enters the arena (6.50). The Convener has been invited to make a two-minute speech during the concert.

Sunday 10 June:
The torch is making an appearance at John O'Groats. This is the day of the Caithness and Sutherland Vintage Car rally and the plan is to bolt on the arrival of the torch at the end of this event, which concludes at 4.30 pm. Collette Stewart, general manager of Natural Retreats (owners of John O'Groats Hotel) is co-ordinating the community event. The plan is that the Caithness Junior Pipe Band will lead the community from the village field down to the harbour, where a marquee will be erected. There, there will be a local dance group and community choir. Civic leader Gail Ross will welcome Caithness torchbearers Louis Mackinnon and Andrew Sinclair with the torches they will have carried through Inverness the previous day.

Monday 11 June:
The torch arrives from the Western Isles and then resumes its journey from Inverness Castle at 10.30 am when the Convener will flag it off. It heads for Aviemore, then Carrbridge and Grantown and then on to Tomintoul and Aberdeen.

Torch Journey
When travelling between communities, there are three separate convoys. There is a pre-activation convoy (5-10 smaller vehicles, some handing out free samples of Coke etc) , an activation convoy (5 vehicles) and then the torchbearing convoy (30). There is also a large convoy of operational and support vehicles.

While travelling between communities, the Torch Relay convoy will travel at approximately 40 mph. When it is travelling in torchbearer mode through communities, the speed is 4 mph. Some torchbearers, such as Sandra Ross (62) from Nairn, will be walking. So the prospect for delay is significant, especially on the A 82 where overtaking opportunities will be zero.

An extensive menu of information about the torch relay is prominently displayed on the home page of our web site: www.highland.gov.uk