Olympic torch relay event taking place at Cheltenham Racecourse
Cheltenham Racecourse is to welcome the Olympic torch on 23rd May.
Around 10,000 visitors are expected to attend the free, once-in-a-lifetime event, which will see urban rapper Labrinth, the artist behind ‘Let the Sun Shine’ and ‘Pass Out’, headline. The official celebration show will begin at 5pm, with the flame being delivered by an as-yet unnamed celebrity at 7pm, to light the cauldron on a main stage, situated opposite the racecourse grandstand. The show will also include performances by the Gloucestershire Youth Jazz Orchestra, Cheltenham Youth Choir and Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum.
The landmark venue, home to the legendary Cheltenham Festival, is the perfect setting to kick-start the South West’s sporting fever ahead of the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games this summer.
Building on its non-raceday activities Cheltenham Racecourse’s changing face of events is proving to be a popular crowd pleaser; pulling in footfall across the country to the South West. The progressive venue launched its ‘LIVE’ division in 2011 and has since hosted well-known faces including John Bishop, Micky Flanagan and Alexandra Burke.
The venue boasts a host of flexible event spaces including The Centaur, a 2,250 seated auditorium with state-of-the-art lighting and sound capabilities, as well as 300 acres available for outside events and 10,000 free car parking spaces; the facilities available make the venue the de facto choice for concert and comedy promoters.
Edward Gillespie, managing director Cheltenham Racecourse, comments “Everyone at Cheltenham Racecourse is delighted to be hosting this wonderful event, which I’m sure will live long in the memory. It is a great honour for us to be the site chosen to represent the whole county for the Olympic Torch Evening Celebration and I’m sure that this will be an occasion of which everyone in Gloucestershire will be proud. We’ll be doing everything we can to make sure that it is a night to remember.”
