AS the 2012 Olympics approaches, one small group, working behind the scenes, already deserves some sort of medal.

Given the obstacles it has had to clear, the right category might be hurdling.

The Olympic Regions East Group is chaired by Essex county councillor Stephen Castle, whose own sporting credentials include being a qualified ski instructor.

A knowledge of bureaucratic ski jumping and high speed political slalom has come in handy for the role.

The group’s remit is to ensure the Olympics confers maximum advantage on this region.

It sounds straightforward, but the work involved and the hurdles to be jumped to ensure this happens are best described as Olympic.

“The focus is on what happens in 2012,” said Mr Castle. But he also stresses the Olympics have to be seen in a wider time frame.

“The Games will leave a permanent legacy, and the work to get that right started on day one. The positive effects are being felt already, a year beforehand.”

The first task was to form a board. It demanded we get together a lot of people in local government who had never sat in the same room together before,” said Mr Castle.

The board is composed of local government representatives from Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk Hert- fordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Bedfordshire.

Mr Castle believes the Olympics has brought these six counties together in a way the now disbanded regional development body, the East of England Development Agency, never achieved.

“People never felt any attachment to the artificial creation called the East of England, but the Olympics are creating a sense of cohesion across the six counties.”

The board proved its mettle when the region faced perhaps its biggest setback, the withdrawal of two original venues. South Weald Park, the original choice for mountain biking events, was considered too tame, and the proposed white water rafting venue in the Lea Valley was deemed too expensive.

“There were other contenders pushing their case for these rugged events, including Wales, which was an obvious candidate, as well as the national white water rafting centre in Nottingham,” says Mr Castle.

In the end, the group’s advocacy ensured the mountain biking event was transferred to Hadleigh, and white water rafting came to the Essex-Hertfordshire border.

Mr Castle believes the group’s most effective work has been in the education sector.

Typical of the original ideas has been the scheme to allow able-bodied children to engage in paralympics activities, such as using wheelchairs to play basketball.

School students have also been invited to name features on the mountain biking course.

“It makes it much more interesting if you can, for example, refer to Chicken Gulley instead of just a dip in the ground,” Mr Castle said.

He claims: “Essex is now seen everywhere as a leader in engaging schools. That’s unique.”

Hard graft aside, the board has been presented with one glamorous task, the planning of the Olympic torch route within the region.

“We’ve talked to people who experienced the 1948 London Games, and what they remember most vividly is the torch relay,” said Mr Castle.

One hundred people a day will carry the torch. “We expect between ten and twenty times that number of applications,” he added.

“We’ll probably have to lock ourselves up in a hotel room while we make the decision. It’s tough, but it’s going to create an incredible legacy.”

Right now, the details of the route are still under wraps. “That side of the business has had to be conducted in a lot of secrecy,” he said.

But he does make one reassurance. “I can now say there will be one overnight stop for the torch in Essex. We can’t yet reveal the location. Watch this space.”