The 15th March 2011 was a landmark date on the London 2012 calendar that saw a huge wave of excitement descend upon the country as the Olympic tickets went on sale with just 500 days to go to the Games. There was arguably, even more excitement for over 500 young people in Leicester and Leicestershire as they took part in our local 500 days to go celebrations, a torch relay from the county to the city using the original 1948 London Olympic torch.

Our day started at Loughborough College, where our team incorporating young leaders from Flames: Lighting the Way, a London 2012 Inspire Mark project, assisted students from RNIB College Loughborough in starting off the relay. The torch then left the site carried by Wells Sport Ambassador Mark Buckingham and Tommy Godwin, double bronze medallist at the 1948 London Olympic Games and moved onto Christ Church and St Peters C of E Primary School in Mountsorrel, where it arrived to a rapturous reception from staff, students and teachers, before being past from student to student around the school site.

Throughout the day students from Longslade Community College, Rushey Mead School, Soar Valley Community College, Herrick Primary, Netherhall Special School, Wyvern Primary. Taylor Road Primary and Ellesmere College, all took part in physical activity sessions delivered by the Flames: Lighting the way teams and had the honour of running with the 1948 torch and meeting past and potential Olympians.

The torch relay came to a close at Leicester City Football Club with one final lap of the pitch with club ambassador Alan Birchenall, MBE and students from the Leicester Tigers Study Support Centre, cheered on by City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and supported by a Taiko drumming group from Humphrey Perkins School.

Gaynor Nash, Regional 2012 Legacy Co-ordinator for Children and Young People said "What a day we all had with, at the heart if it, a powerful symbol in the actual London 1948 Torch. We were privileged too in having Tommy Godwin and Mark Buckingham with us for the Torch Relay. At LCFC, the Taiko drumming by Humphrey Perkins pupils and the presence of Sven-Goran Eriksson brought the Torch Relay to an inspiring conclusion.

You may be exhausted just reading about the events so far, but we didn’t stop there. Following the torch relay we launched straight into a conference to celebrate the work of our schools and colleges that are already part of the Get Set Network. The conference was designed to allow other local schools and colleges that have yet to take that step, see firsthand how the Get Set programme and the Olympic and Paralympic values have a positive impact on the lives of young people, thanks to case studies from Folville Junior School, The Robert Smyth School and Burleigh College, in addition to the numerous schools and colleges that formed our exhibition area.

We were also very lucky to have a number of special guests with us on the day from the world of sport including Paralympic Gold medallist and current F44/46 discus world record holder, Dan Greaves who spoke about his experiences as an elite level athlete, Wells Sport Foundation Ambassador and Triathlete Katie Ingram, and two young hopefuls in the form of Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport Go Gold Ambassadors Michael Reeve and Fiona McGoram, who all spoke about their 2012 Games aspirations.

It is very difficult to put into the words the overwhelming success of the day and the personal pride that I felt in helping so many young people to have their own personal 2012 Games experience and hopefully to have inspired them to create their own 2012 Games legacy, so I would urge you to take a look at our highlights video that really brings the day to life.

www.inspireleics.org.uk/500-days-to-go

I would like to personally thank our partners and all of the people involved in the day, in particular the schools and the young people for taking part. A lot has been said recently about the legacy from the Games, but here in Leicester and Leicestershire we are doing our upmost to stick to the original vision of the Games, to inspire a generation of young people.