Veteran runner goes for the burn

The octogenarian athlete – a founding member of the Leeds City Athletic Club – still enjoys lacing up his running shoes regularly, and when he is not pounding the pavements, he volunteers at local libraries delivering books to other residents.

Mr Cockroft, from Leeds, will join more than 600 other inspirational torchbearers who will each carry the Olympic flame during its journey through Yorkshire this summer.

The torch will make two trips to the region, staying for more than six days. Organisers claim it will travel within 10 miles of 95 per cent of people in Yorkshire.

Mr Cockroft, who also volunteers in a community kitchen, is to run one of the legs, travelling through Skipton on June 24.

“I was a bit surprised to be nominated really – it was my youngest daughter who put me forward, she must have made a good case for me,” he said. “I’m very excited really, I’ll get quite a kick out of it.”

His daughter Alison Varley said he has devoted more than 70 years of his life to his passion for athletics, as a competitor, coach, timekeeper and marshall. She puts his longevity down to simple healthy living and said he makes his own soup, bread, biscuits as well as exercising every day – combined with regularly looking after boisterous grandchildren.

Each torchbearer will carry the flame about 300 meters on its 70-day national tour of the UK. There will be 8,000 taking part.

Another of the Yorkshire torchbearers is teenager George Conway, who suffers from a rare muscular disease which confines him to a wheelchair. Despite his disability he lives his life to the full, often representing his school, Easingwold, in sports, swimming and fishing. He has been heavily involved in the wheelchair charity, Whizz kids.

His father Shaun said George’s life was turned upside down when his mother, Rachel, lost her battle with cancer, but said he has shown courage, maturity and strength of character.

George said: “I am overjoyed – this is an opportunity of a lifetime and I cannot wait.”

The six and a half days the torch will tour the region is the longest of any outside London. The tour is in two parts, starting in Hinderwell in North Yorkshire on Monday, June 18, it travels to the coast, including Scarborough before finishing in Hull where a celebration party will take place.

On June 19 it moves back inland, taking in Goole, Tadcaster, Harrogate and Ripon before arriving for a second overnight celebration in York. On June 20 it travels north to Northallerton, Bedale and through Richmond.

It returns to Yorkshire for two city celebrations, the first in Leeds on Monday, June 25, then travelling through West Yorkshire through Dewsbury and Wakefield before heading south to Barnsley and eventually Sheffield for another overnight party.

On June 26 it will travel through Doncaster and Rotherham and head east through Brigg and Immingham before an overnight party in Cleethorpes. The final day of the relay in the region sees the torch in Grimsby on June 27.

It is understood the overnight celebrations in York will be at York Racecourse, and include live music and a funfair, while Temple Newsam Park in Leeds will be the location of a 50,000 person capacity live event on June 24,

In Sheffield, a community event will take place at Hillsborough Park, and there will be an overnight celebration party in Barkers Pool.

In total the torch will travel through 78 towns and villages. Full details and street maps of every leg of the journey are expected to be published on the London 2012 website today.

Olympic relay destinations

June 18: Hinderwell, Lythe, Sandsend, Whitby, Pickering, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, Beverley, Hull.

June 19: Hull, Brough, Goole, Camblesforth, Selby, Monk Fryston, Barkston Ash, Tadcaster, Boston Spa, Wetherby, Harewood, Knaresborough, Harrogate, Ripon, York.

June 20: York, Thirsk, Northallerton, Aiskew, Bedale, Aysgarth, Leyburn, Richmond.

June 24: Marsh, Huddersfield, Brighouse, Halifax, Bradford, Keighley, Skipton, Ilkley, Headingley, Potternewton, Harehills, Richmond Hill, Leeds.

June 25: Leeds, Hunslet, Beeston, Morley, Batley, Dewsbury, Wakefield, Castleford, Pontefract, Ackworth, Lundwood, Cundy Cross, Barnsley, Darton, Kexbrough, Chapeltown, Ecclesfield, Parson Cross, Sheffield.

June 26: Sheffield, Rotherham, Dalton, Thrybergh, Conisbrough, Warmsworth, Doncaster, Armthorpe, Dunsville, Hatfield, Scunthorpe, Brigg, Wrawby, Immingham, Cleethorpes.

June 27: Grimsby.