Dummy run for Olympic torch relay

A full dress rehearsal for the London 2012 Olympics torch relay has got under way.

Some 122 participants from Leicestershire were acting as torchbearers during the only full operational dummy run of a single day of the relay.

The actual torch relay will start from Land's End in Cornwall next month after the arrival of the Olympic flame in the UK on May 18.

The rehearsal, taking place on the Leicester to Peterborough route, is aimed at testing timings, convoy movement, radio communications, traffic management and security. The torch will not be lit during the rehearsal, the organisers said.

The actual Olympic flame will pass through 1,018 places in the UK, as well as visiting Dublin, arriving in London for the Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 27.

The rehearsal kicked off at the National Space Centre in Leicester just after 7am on Friday.

Each of the participants, who have been chosen from the local area to take part in the rehearsal, will carry the torch some 300m. The participants are volunteers from local universities and organisations, but will not be taking part in the actual event.

The Olympic Flame is due to pass along the route on day 46 of the torch relay.

Speaking ahead of the rehearsal, David Chaplain, a Loughborough University student, said he was excited to be taking part as one of the acting torchbearers.

The 20-year-old, who is in his second year of a sports management degree, said "I would have liked to have been involved in the real thing but I wasn't sure I was going to be in the country. This is a great opportunity to still be involved. It's something you take forward with you for the rest of your life."