UNITED KINGDOM: OLYMPICS - Olympic torch relay gets underway at Land's End with British sailor Ben Ainslie the first to carry the flame on UK soil

Record ID: 330744

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: OLYMPICS - Olympic torch relay gets underway at Land's End with British sailor Ben Ainslie the first to carry the flame on UK soil
  • Date: 20th May 2012
  • Summary: SEA CADETS ARRANGING INTO FORMATION
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA1K7F8UJR8S6MM7IQEFAJ4I16J
  • Story Text: Britain's triple Olympic sailing champion Ben Ainslie set the Olympic torch on its marathon 70-day relay journey around the United Kingdom today at Lands End in Cornwall on Saturday (May 19).
    Ainslie was the first of some 8,000 people who will carrying the flame before its reaches the opening ceremony of the London Games on July 27th.
    Despite the early hours and a cold and crisp Cornwall morning, the crowds gathered in their numbers to witness the first steps of the flame on British soil.
    For Pauline Robinson and her friends who lived in nearby St Buryan there was a simple reason for their very early start.
    "Just to say we were there," she told Reuters.
    "We might not see everything but we were there - bacon butties, coca cola badge, wig - what more do you need," she added with a smile.
    For Ainslie, carrying the first torch was a special moment not only for himself but for the entire UK.
    "Yeah its absolutely amazing - an incredible moment for the whole nation really to have the Olympic torch setting off," he said.
    "A beautiful morning down here in Land's End in Cornwall and an absolutely electric atmosphere.
    "I think it's really, the Olympics is for everybody, and you know certain people get a chance to compete but really the torch is about including everyone in the country, making them feel part of such a special event."
    The crowd agreed with many enjoying the party-like atmosphere as the country gears up for sport's showpiece event.
    "It's been a great atmoshpere, it all starts here really doesn't, you can hear the atmosphere," John Riggs said.
    Riggs and his wife Rita had travelled from Harrowgate along with daughter Martha to witness the first day of the torch relay.
    "I think as the torch follows (goes) around the country and it goes near more and more people, more and more people will start to get excited and feel like their a part of it, yeah," Marth said.
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