Olympic tOrch relay
Blaze of glory
LOCOG
The Olympic torch arrived in Cheltenham on day 5 of its momentous journey across Britain. At Cheltenham Racecourse, Zara Phillips carried the Olympic torch upon her horse Toytown. Craig Mortiboys, Olympic lead officer, Cheltenham Borough Council, talks
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hen the Olympic torch landed on British soil and began its mammoth 70-day journey, no one knew quite what to expect – how would the public react to the torch relay? How many people would turn up to catch a glimpse of the shiny gold symbol? And logistically, how much disruption would its presence create? Organisers should not have doubted public reaction – on May 19, the public outpoured emotion and embraced the once in a lifetime opportunity to be so close to a symbol of the Olympic movement. Gripped in the midst of a heatwave, thousands poured onto the streets to soak up the atmosphere. As torch relay presenting partners, Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung passed through a series of towns, villages and cities; they whipped up the crowd with their own brand of entertainment. Day 5 saw the torch leave Bristol and head towards the Gloucestershire hills where it would rest overnight following an evening torch celebration concert. Hosted by Cheltenham Racecourse, 25,000 visitors descended upon the racing venue to see Zara Phillips, the last torchbearer of the day, carry the iconic flame down the finishing straight of the racecourse. She rode her horse Toytown before lighting the cauldron on the main stage at the evening gig. Craig Mortiboys, Olympic lead officer, Cheltenham Borough Council, told Stand Out that the council was contacted by LOCOG 18 months previous and asked to host an evening concert. For the last six months, the torch relay has consumed Mortiboys workload and now that it’s all over he describes the hard work as worthwhile. “When LOCOG approached the council, Cheltenham Racecourse was always the
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obvious choice. It made sense to host the event there and so we essentially handed the event to the racecourse. “We fed into the venue’s operational team, which have expertise on how the site works and that’s because of the size and scale of events they handle all the time. The best policy was to stick to what worked,” Mortiboys explained. “We knew the event would be free to attend but we did not know who would turn up, and we weren’t quite sure how big the event could be. We could have had wet and windy weather but as it happened the sun shone and so to manage the event we had to make an accurate guess.”
Under control It was decided that the evening concert would be a non-ticketed event. It was thought that this scenario would be easier to manage and gave the venue flexibility. Mortiboys said: “We had no idea of the interest level in the torch relay until the Saturday when the relay began. Then the team looked at the weather forecast, saw
police visited the venue three days prior to the torch arriving. they checked drains and sealed them after inspection. the racecourse was also not allowed to place a litter bin within 20-metres of the torch route
sun, and we knew we had the potential to welcome 15,000 people on the day.” Figures surpassed all expectations – 25,000 visitors turned up to cheer on the torch and watch Zara Phillips trot through the crowds. A number of agencies and police authorities from neighbouring counties visited the Cheltenham concert in order to get a feel for the event prior to the torch’s arrival in their area. This was something that Mortiboys and his team could not do: “We would have loved to have had a look at another concert but we didn’t have time. Our
labrinth fans stood in the heat for up to three hours so that they could be at the front of the stage – racecourse staff distributed free water to the young crowd and broadcast health and safety messages over the course’s comms system