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Students Pass the Flame in College's Torch Relay

As the Olympic Flame edges closer to the county having left Athens on Thursday (11 May), Cornwall College students have been getting into the spirit by taking part in a torch relay of their own.

A number of students have been using the College’s sports facilities to run, swim and row the distance between the college’s campuses before their version of the flame (a mock-up of the real thing) is passed to the next site.  The aim is to cover the equivalent amount of miles between all seven campuses in a range of Olympic sport-themed activities, culminating in the annual Beach Games event at Tolcarne Beach, Newquay, on 16th May.

Saltash students began the relay passing the flame to Duchy College Stoke Climsland where the group completed a cross-country route, via the equine and engineering departments, to make up the 13 miles between the two locations.

Stoke Climsland students jumped on the cycles to cover the 40 miles to the St Austell campus where the torch was passed to the rowers. Using the fitness suite at St Austell the students powered the 26 miles to Falmouth Marine School.

The challenge continued in Falmouth where Marine Sports Science foundation degree students clocked up 16 miles – the distance between Falmouth and Duchy College Rosewarne - in kayaks and sailing lasers.

The Rosewarne students made use of the free swim at Carn Brea Leisure Centre to swim the two miles (128 lengths) it would take to get to the Camborne campus and were backed by two of their lecturers who added another 1.7 miles to the total, purely for the fun of it!

The students of the Camborne campus took the torch for the final leg of the relay, running the 19 miles to Newquay both on the treadmills in the Fitness Suite and around the artificial and grass pitches.

The flame will make its final stop at Tolcarne Beach on 16th May where it will take pride of place at the Cornwall College Beach Games. By this point almost 120 miles would have been completed.

Sports lecturer Dan Inch who organised the relay said: “Everyone is excited about London 2012 and this was a great way for the students to become a part of it, even if our torch was a bit of a Blue Peter job! Cornwall College is part of the Get Set network which was set up for schools and colleges to promote the Olympic and Paralympic Values and inspire students, and our version of the torch relay has done exactly that. It’s got students’ thinking about the Olympics and involved in sporting activities.”

Dave Linnell, Principal of Cornwall College, added: “We are proud of our commitment to bringing together the whole college community in events like this. 2012 is a special year for us with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, and we want our students to be part of it as much as possible.”

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