The “Welcome Home” parade for this year’s GB Olympic heroes will be held today in Manchester.
After PM May announced in August that this year’s national parade to celebrate Britain’s Olympians and Paralympians will be held in Manchester, the Northern capital has work hard to prepare the perfect welcome these athletes more than deserve.
Manchester City Council deputy leader, Sue Murphy, told MEN that “whenever we’ve had parades in the past, Manchester has been out in force.”
“But it’s not just about the parade – we need to continue to inspire people and think about how we can work with different sporting bodies to make sure we continue this success.”
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The parade might be the perfect opportunity to inspire a fair few people with estimates saying the parade could attract up to 200,000 fans.
Reasons why Manchester is the chosen location for this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Parade are easily found, as the city has more than once been dubbed “Manchester medal factory” during the games.
In fact, it turns out that the majority of British medalists are actually from up North, with 23 of the medals achieved by athletes born and/or trained in Manchester.
Mark Hardwick explained the term saying: “Great that Manchester are going to hold this, after all it’s the home of the Medal Factory aka Velodrome and the city holding a successful Commonwealth Games in 2002 where it all started.”
Not only has the Velodrome produced a good number of standout athletes, it has however also regenerated East Manchester. Holding the parade in Manchester is just another way of the Government to showcase that investment in the North is well worth it.
Christine Pritchard added:
The north has produced some brilliant athletes. They should be paraded in the north, where else? Just because London is the capital, regional pride should be applauded.
The parade will kick off at 4.30pm today. Click here to get more info on the exact route.
