Letters / Crushed at Clickimin
Sunday was excellent with the arrival of the Olympic flame and everyone enjoying being part of a little bit of Olympic history – well done those who took part.
My only comment is there should have been a slight delay in lighting the cauldron purely because of the surge of the large crowd trying to get back to the field and stage from the loch.
It got worrying as the people building up were packed too tight through a small opening and stewards with police were not considering how to disperse people more easily onto the field and track.
A child in a go-chair was lost among the feet next to me as we had nowhere to move until once through opening you felt you could breathe. It would have been serious if someone had stumbled.
The Jarl squad and torch were quickly onto the field before the crowd could move back, the choir music had already started and the cauldron lit, which the majority squashed at the gate from loch never saw.
Thankfully I was in time to see my grand daughters dancing with the group on the grass, but others probably couldn’t see anything other than Tavish Scott on stage.
The very large turnout and crowds all moving from one area to another should have been considered and it would have been better to have had the Jarl squad meeting the final runner on road back to Clickimin to keep the crowd at the athletic track safe in one place, gaining more time that was wasted crossing the loch.
Hopefully organisers will take this point on board, but I enjoyed waving off the helicopter with many others in Lochside.
Christine Donald
Sandwick
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