Olympic and Paralympic Legacy for Stockport

In 2012 Stockport engaged with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a number of ways to bring the spirit of the Games to the borough. Here are some of the highlights and legacy projects.

Olympic Torch Relay

16 people from Stockport were selected as Torchbearers and carried the Flame through the Northwest. Thousands of you came out on Sunday 24 June to celebrate and join in with the passing of the torch through the borough

Stockport Olympic & Paralympic Athletes & Games Makers

20 Olympic and Paralympic athletes with links to the borough attended the Games and a campaign to promote them along the A6 took place between June and September 2012. A celebration event at Stockport Town Hall welcoming home the athletes and local Games Makers took place in September.

Get Set Schools

90% of Stockport schools and colleges signed up to the Get Set educational resources with Werneth School received funding to support their Community Olympic Journey and Priestnall School being selected to be a Guard of Honour for the Malaysian team at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

London 2012 Inspire Mark

Stockport received the London 2012 Inspire Mark for 7 projects truly inspired by London 2012

• Swim to the Games
• Adopt an Olympian / Paralympian in Stockport Schools and Colleges 
• Stockport Schools and Colleges Celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Values 
• International Inspiration (Priestnall School) 
• Yoku Choir
• Cycloan 
• CADS (Children’s able and Disabled Sports)

Swim to the Games recruited 10 adult non swimmers and challenged them to learn and collectively swim the distance between Grand Central Pools and the Olympic Aquatics Centre before the Opening Ceremony, this was a total a distance of 203miles. The team were lucky enough to swim in the Olympic pool as part of their challenge on 15 June 2012. Take a look at the films of their journey.

Adopt an Olympian / Paralympian and Schools Celebration Event

As part of Stockport’s School Sports Partnership athletes will once again be going into schools to inspire young people in 2013 and a celebration evening will take place at Stockport Plaza on 11 July 2013 to celebrate school sport, leadership & volunteering.

Furthermore young people who have completed the legacy tasks in the Olympic and Paralympic Values Heptathlon booklet created by the 2012 winners will also be awarded at the event. 

CADS, Yoku Choir and Cyclon are all continuing with weekly sessions and events throughout the borough see ‘What’s on in Stockport’ for further information.

Sportivate

Across Stockport young people aged 14–25 can enjoy free sports coaching sessions as part of the national legacy from the Games until 2015. To find out more about what sports are offered see ‘What’s on in Stockport’  or contact Ian.Dixon@lifeleisure.net call 0161 482 0920

School Games

36 teams participated in 21 sports across the winter and summer school games in 2012 representing Stockport at the Greater Manchester Games. For more information about the 2013-2015 Games see the GM School Games website.

Pass the Baton

Stockport’s Baton Relay took place over 2 days on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 July 2012. 70 schools passed the batons between them on the Friday with students walking, running and cycling between schools.

On Saturday, the 5 Olympic coloured batons displaying the winning designs from a school competition made their way between 34 parks, on foot, by bike, people on space hoppers, canoeists and horse riders finishing off with a finale at Reddish Vale Country Park. The event was an amazing success with over 3,500 people taking part in fun sports, arts and cultural events across the parks.

The community event was organised by local volunteers from Stockport Greenspace Forum. For more information and pictures see the Pass the Baton website.

Schools across Stockport have requested that the Baton Relay becomes an annual event for Stockport’s School Sport Partnership from 2013.