The Isle of Wight's Olympic torch bearers. Picture by Jennifer Burton.
THOUSANDS of people are expected to line the Island’s streets to cheer on the Olympic torch today (Saturday).
The 13 torch bearers will be joined by double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson, who lives in Cowes, to carry the flame from Yarmouth to East Cowes, via Alum Bay, Carisbrooke and Newport.
Shirley is expected to carry the torch from the top of Newport High Street for around 300 yards.
Shirley said she hoped there would be a good crowd and her family and friends were going to watch.
Eden Crumplin, 12, of Haylands, and Isle of Wight Marathon winner Les Cupis, 49, of Whitwell, will be carrying the torch on its journey to the cross-Solent ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth.
Among the Island runners is East Cowes grandmother Sheila Ingram, 74, of Old Road, who will be carrying the torch through Newport, from High Street to Quay Street.
The retired silver service waitress, said: "I feel very excited, thrilled and proud to be doing this. I’ve been getting in some gentle jogs with the dogs down Cambridge Road in East Cowes."
The youngest runner on the Island will be Ryde School student Ashlyn Dickinson, 12, who will carry the torch along Carisbrooke Road, Newport.
"I’m a bit nervous about it, but I don’t think it’ll really hit me until the morning of the event," said Ashlyn, of Corbett Road, Ryde.
• For traffic information, including road closures, bus and prking information, click here.
• For details of the route the torch and will take and timings, click here.
Reporter: jonm@iwcpmail.co.uk