Olympic Torch Relay: Day 29 Highlights
16 June 2012, 05:00 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50
SATURDAY 16TH JUNE (GATESHEAD - DURHAM)
· Today the Relay will travel 98.90 miles
· 131 Torchbearers will carry the Flame
· The Evening celebration to take place at Durham University Racecourse
· The Relay will travel through the following communities: Gateshead, South Shields, Whitburn, Sunderland, Lowfell & Chowdene, Blaydon, Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Hexham, Riding Mill, Consett, Moorside, Castleside, Tow Law, Esh, Langley Park and Durham.
· At 6.25am the first Torchbearer of the day, Richard Jackson, 45, from Seaton Sluice, will start with the Flame on the roof of The Sage, Gateshead and then abseil down. At the bottom he will hand the Flame to Abby Knox, 12, from Gateshead.
· At 7.36am, Jon Mellish, 14, from South Shields, will carry the Flame into Gateshead International Stadium and run around the track. Part way round the track he will hand the Flame to Andrew Moore, 36, from Gateshead, who will complete the lap of the track and then head out of the stadium.
· When the Torch arrives in South Shields just after 8am, Olympic long distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, winner of the 2012 Great North Run, will carry the Flame along Coast Road in South Shields, passing it on to Great North Run founder Brendan Foster, who will carry it past the Great North Run finish line gantry which has been put up for the relay event.
· The daughter of PC David Rathband, who was shot and blinded by gunman Raoul Moat, will carry the Torch through Whitburn. Mia Rathband, who's 13, will be carrying the Flame in the memory of her dad. David had been offered this place but unfortunately passed away in February of this year
· When the Torch reaches Sunderland, it will be carried through the Aquatic Centre by Steve Cram at 9:44am
· The Torch will reach the Angel of the North around 12pm
· The last Torchbearer of the day, Durham-born TV presenter Matt Baker, will carry the Flame into Durham University Racecourse for the Evening Celebration.
