Crowds welcome torch

Crowds welcome torch

13 June 2012

THOUSANDS of Down District residents defied the early morning and the rain on Thursday to welcome the Olympic Torch on its journey around Northern Ireland.

The early morning didn’t discourage the many hundreds of people who lined the streets of Newcastle as the torch bearers left the town at 6.30am on the final day in the Province.

And the rain didn’t bother the people of Ballynahinch who lined the market town for a glimpse of the white clad torch bearers carrying the gold torch flanked by their grey covered escorts.

There was a lot of nervousness in the weeks leading up to the big day because of the early start in the district. Would local people be sufficiently enthused to come out and give it a big welcome and send off?

The organisers need not have worried — thousands did the district proud.

All along Newcastle Main Street there was a great turn out of children, parents and the elderly who waved and cheered.

The event did not just involve a runner with a torch. There were countless motorcycle outriders who zoomed about keeping back the crowds and stopping the traffic.

Wonderfully liveried BMWs were followed by a huge lorry from Coca Cola, handing out bottles to the crowd, and by a large truck from another sponsor, Samsung. Several buses were also in the procession carrying spare escorts and the various torch bearers who would be needed throughout the day.

The meticulous timekeeping was impressively in evidence again on Thursday as the torch arrived in Dundrum. Patrick Kielty was scheduled to begin walking at 7.32am, and it was at that exact time that he began with a skip for the cameras.

There was a wonderful community atmosphere in the village as several hundred people lined the street, posing a slight problem for the huge number of police motorcycle outriders charged with keeping back the crowds.

There was one delightful moment when Kielty spotted his mum in the crowd and ran over to give her a kiss, much to the bewilderment of his escorts who wondered where he had gone.

The children from Cumran Primary School were out with villagers in Clough before the procession made its way to Downpatrick where there was a huge turn out.

Along Market Street and Church Street, the crowds lined the streets, cheering impressively for the brief time the torch was in the County Town.

It was a similar story in Crossgar, where UTV presenter Paul Clarke, was a popular torch bearer, and in Saintfield as the torch bearers made their way to the final destination of the Down District tour — Ballynahinch.

By the time the processions reached the town the downpour had begun but there was still an impressive number of people lining the streets, giving the torch an enthusiastic farewell after the early morning, whistle-stop visit to the district.