Torch is lit by athletes in Stoke Mandeville

The Paralympic flame has been lit by two British athletes earlier than its journey to the Paris video games.

It was ignited by Helene Raynsford and Gregor Ewan within the birthplace of the Paralympic motion, in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, on Saturday.

The torch might be handed in relays between 24 torch bearers within the UK on its journey to the French capital through the Channel Tunnel.

“I’m so excited to be chosen for this extraordinarily big day,” Ewan mentioned.

The occasion marked the primary time the Paralympic flame had been lit at Stoke Mandeville because the video games arrived in London in 2012.

The Paralympic motion started from the village’s hospital in 1948 after Dr Ludwig Guttmann helped to rehabilitate troopers injured through the Second World War.

International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons ran a brief circuit of the athletics monitor following the ignition earlier.

The torch might be carried by 24 British bearers within the UK earlier than it’s handed over to 24 French Paralympians in Calais.

Organisers mentioned as soon as in France, every torch would then ignite one other 12 torches to symbolise the variety of days the video games would final. The flames would then be unfold throughout the nation for about 1,200 forerunners to relay.

The relays will converge in Paris on 28 August, the place the Paralympic cauldron might be lit on the Paralympic Games opening ceremony.

It was hoped utilizing Stoke Mandeville would increase international consciousness of the position it had performed within the start of the Paralympic motion through Sir Ludwig.

“Words can’t describe the honour of being chosen to mild the Paralympic Flame alongside Gregor,” mentioned Raynsford, the primary Paralympic rowing champion.

Ewan, a three-time Paralympian in wheelchair rowing, added it was an “extraordinarily big day”.