Sporting personalities mark Holocaust anniversary with 70-person relay in Gateshead

Triple paralympic champion Stephen Miller (seated left) leads the Gateshead College Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations.

North East sporting personalities have taken part in a 70-person relay race today to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the former Nazi concentration camp in Poland.

Gateshead College hosted a special event at the Gateshead International Stadium, attended by sports personalities including triple paralympic champion Stephen Miller, Newcastle Thunder’s Mark Mexico and Gateshead Football Club’s Olly Ure and Thomas Marshall.

A flag was passed from person to person during a 15-minute relay race, before Stephen Miller took it over the finishing line to symbolise the “passing on” of cherished memories and the start of a new era of liberation.

Money from the collection will be donated to Barnado’s children’s charity.