LONG Sutton will be the only location in the Fens to enjoy a visit from the Olympic torch next year after route organisers chose to snub the district.
The 70-day torch relay, which begins on May 19, will see the Olympic flame visit 1,018 places across Britain but it will not pass through Fenland at all - despite visiting nearby locations including King’s Lynn, Long Sutton and Holbeach.
The torch will stop twice overnight in Cambridgeshire, in Peterborough and Cambridge. But the Peterborough to Norwich route, taking place on July 4, will see it bypass Fenland.
The route has been met with disappointment in the Fens but Whittlesey Councillor Martin Curtis, who chairs Cambridgeshire County Council’s 2012 Olympics member panel, defended the decision of the London Games’ organisers LOCOG.
He said on Twitter: “Torch relay is a logistical nightmare to organise - it can’t go everywhere. Cambs have two overnight stops, some counties have none.”
LOCOG claim the torch will come within 10 miles of 95 per cent of the population. The torch will travel 8,000 miles and will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers.
The final day of its 10-week tour will see it travel down the Thames to the Olympic Park, in time for the opening ceremony on July 27.
Road closures and extra public transport could see the cost of bringing the torch to Cambridgeshire reach as much as �150,000.
How far will you have to travel to see the torch?
Day 47, July 4: Peterborough to Norwich
Peterborough
Market Deeping
Thurlby
Bourne
Spalding
Moulton
Whaplode
Holbeach
Long Sutton
King’s Lynn
South Wootton
West Rudham
East Rudham
Fakenham
Holt
Cromer
Aylesham
Norwich
Day 51, July 8: Cambridge to Luton
Cambridge
St Ives
Huntingdon
Bedford
Cotton End
Letchworth Garden City
Stevenage
Welwyn Garden City
Hatfield
St Albans
Hemel Hempstead
Luton
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