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Olympic Flame relay to run in Russia’s Volgograd region town Uryupinsk

Uryupinsk’s stage of the Olympic Flame relay will be the 104th one, the 105th stage will be held in the city of Volgograd on January 20

VOLGOGRAD, January 19, 4:14 /ITAR-TASS/. The Olympic Flame of the Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi will be brought to the town of Uryupinsk on Sunday. Many associate this small town in the north of Volgograd Region with Russian remote districts, as the town is actually situated 340 kilometres away from the Volga River city of Volgograd, 315 kilometres from Voronezh, 250 kilometres from Tambov and around 500 kilometres away from Rostov-on-Don.

Around 60 torchbearers will carry the Olympic torch in Uryupinsk. “If it is really cold in the town, then the torch will be carried by all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile on the frozen lake to an Epiphany ice-water font,” minister of sports of the regional government Sergei Popkov told Itar-Tass.

Uryupinsk’s stage of the Olympic Flame relay will be the 104th one, the 105th stage will be held in the city of Volgograd on January 20.

“Distance of Volgograd’s stage will make 46 kilometres, particularly running in express tramway underground. We intend to file a bid in the Guinness World Records on this occasion,” Popkov noted.

“Sweeping festivities are planned in the city of Volgograd. Future mayor of the Sochi Olympic Village and Russian pole vault legend Yelena Isinbayeva will participate in them,” he said.

Route of the Olympic Flame relay race, which started in Moscow on October 7, makes 65,000 kilometres. The Olympic torch will run in the streets of 2,900 settlements and will finish in the city of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics will open on February 7, 2014.

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