08 November 2011

UKA, with the support of some of the United Kingdom’s leading athletes, will today (Tuesday 8^th November) be running a unique virtual relay as it looks for the entire nation to get behind the bid to host the 2017 IAAF Athletics World Championships.

Jess Ennis, Mo Farah, Dai Greene and Iwan Thomas will be acting as Team Captains for the ‘Great Twitter Relay’ in a bid to get as many people as possible to show their support for London 2017. Over the course of the day, the four captains will be tweeting messages of support and urging their followers to do likewise in order to showcase the passion for the bid in this country ahead of the decision which will take place in Monaco on Friday.

As well as today’s twitter relay fans of the London bid can also join in showing their support for the London 2017 campaign by adding the London 2017 Twibbon by visiting: http://http//twibbon.com/join/London2017-Candidate-City%20

Ed Warner, UKA Chairman, said:

“Having secured the support of numerous high profile international athletes, including the likes of Denise Lewis, Ed Moses, Carmelita Jeter and Haile Gebrselassie, as well as that of the global business community, we are now looking to showcase the general public’s backing through the Twitter campaign.

“Hopefully, with the help of Jess, Mo, Dai and Iwan, we’ll be able to demonstrate to the IAAF this country’s passion for athletics and show them this is the ideal place to host the Championships in 2017.”

The London 2017 bid has been put together by UKA, DCMS, the Mayor of London, London & Partners and UK Sport.