Names of North Antrim Olympic Torch carriers are revealed

A NUMBER of people from north Antrim will have the honour of carrying the Olympic Torch this summer.

The Olympic Torch relay will travel through local areas on Sunday June 3 when the media spotlight will firmly be on the area.

And firmly in the limelight will be several locals who will each carry the flame through sections of local towns and villages.

The relay will make its way up the Antrim Coast Road and will enter Glenariffe before moving on to Ballycastle and Dervock and beyond.

The flame is due to arrive in Glenariffe at 15.22 on Sunday June 3, starting at Garron Road and going through the village; before being transferred to Cushendall where it will be picked up at 15.45 at the south side of the village before going through the centre of Cushendall.

The flame arrives at Mary Street, Ballycastle, at 16.48 and goes into Quay Road, Ann Street, Castle Street and Coleraine Road.

The run stops and the flame is then transported to Dervock where it is picked up at Carncullagh Road at 17.34, going into Castlecatt Road ahead of transportation to Bushmills for a 17.52 start going past the Bushmills Distillery, through the Diamond and onwards for transportation to Portrush.

On Monday June 4 at 09:38 the torch will go over Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge before moving on to the Giant’s Causeway at 11.33 and Dunluce Castle for 12:28.

The London 2012 Organising Committee nominations process for Torchbearers ran from May to June 2011 and selection panels were held around the UK in the autumn. Olympic Torch Relay Presenting Partners Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung also held their own nomination campaigns.

Tens of thousands of nominations were made; after a careful selection process over 7,300 inspiring Torchbearers have now been confirmed. The remaining Torchbearers will be confirmed over the coming months.

Carrying the flame through Glenariffe will be 22-year-old Amanda Wilson from Carrickfergus; David Boyle (50) from Ballymena; Lisa Cardwell (18) from Belfast and 14-year-old Sophie Lynn from Ballycastle.

In Cushendall the torch will be picked up by Leon McCarron (25) from Coleraine and Pat McHenry (55) from Antrim.

Torch carriers in Ballycastle are Kevin Bartlett (51), from the Ballymoney area; Jon Devlin (12) from Derry-Londonderry; Kylie Watson (24), whose address was given as Maidstone; and Paul Gray (49) from the Ballymoney area.

In Bushmills, torch carriers will be: Michael Henry (46) from Strabane; Niall Finnegan (15) of Derry-Londonderry and Victoria Walsh (29), from the Lisburn area.

No names have yet been released for the Dervock leg.

Other people from north Antrim carrying the flame outside of the Ballymoney & Moyle areas are: Ciaran Kinney (38) from Ballyvoy and Daniel Black (22) from Ballycastle who will both be in Carnlough on June 3 while Lucia Mee (12) - whose address was given as Ballycastle - will carry the torch in Ballymena on June 7.

On the Olympic website, some torch carriers testimonials are carried.

One is the nomination of Kevin Bartlett.

It said: ‘Kevin has been passionate about sport throughout his entire life: competing in athletics, badminton and rugby for over 40 years and he now devotes his time to coaching the future talent of the UK in all of these sports.

‘He coaches men and women`s rugby, is a level 3 hurdles coach and also finds time to be a qualified referee for Ulster rugby.

‘Kevin was also a pioneer for raising awareness of the gay games and as well as being involved in the British gay and lesbian sports federation, he competed for the UK in the Vancouver games in 1990; winning a Gold and Silver medal for athletics.

‘In his working life, Kevin helps disabled people into employment and strives to give them the motivation to succeed. He has received many compliments from both employers and clients throughout Northern Ireland about the work he does and the feeling of `being someone` that he gives his clients is simply priceless.

‘I think Kevin deserves his moment to shine and carry the Olympic torch for part of its journey throughout the UK as he gives every second of his time, both in and out of work to helping other people and giving them the encouragement and ability to push themselves further and achieve whatever goals they desire.’

The nomination also said Kevin was a level 3 Hurdles coach before he stopped coaching athletics actively in 2003.

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