ONLY two of the people chosen to carry the Olympic flame through Malvern are from the town.

While there are other torchbearers from Malvern, they will – somewhat bizarrely – be parading the torch through other areas in the region, some up to 30 miles away.

Malvern’s mayor Ian Hopwood said the decision, announced by the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) on Monday, seemed “odd”.

“I would have thought that, logically, people from Malvern would carry the torch in Malvern,” he said. “I am sure that people would like to see their own carrying the torch and that the people involved would want their friends to be able to come and support them.”

He added: “The unnecessary travel also seems strange in these days when it costs so much to run a car. I cannot understand it, but of course there is still time for the Olympic organisers to change it.”

One of the inspirational local residents named as a torchbearer is Moira Starkey, aged 85, who hopes to use the occasion to raise £20,120 for breast cancer charity The Haven.

But the pensioner, who uses two sticks to walk, will have to travel almost 30 miles from her home in Storridge to Wickhamford, near Evesham.

“Malvern would have been more sensible. The whole village is planning to come and support me and it would have been easier for them,” she said.

“If all the torchbearers are scattered like this it is going to cost an awful lot just getting people there. But the decision has been made and we’ll have to stick to it – it won’t take the gloss off the occasion for me.”

Another Malvern resident whose torch duties lie elsewhere is Chris Morton, of Lower Howsell Road, whose relay leg is in Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire.

The 69-year-old has had a lifelong association with sport, representing the Army at middle distance running and canoeing, coaching development rugby in South Africa as apartheid was coming to an end and working with youth sections at both Malvern and Upton rugby clubs.

He said: “I would have loved to have done it in Malvern, but I’m just happy to be taking part. It’s an honour.”

But Malvern has fared better than nearby Ledbury, where the line-up includes a torchbearer from Rio de Janeiro but not a single person from the town itself.

Mayor Allen Conway called it a “ludicrous situation”. He said he would raise it at a meeting between the Ledbury Torch Olympic Committee and Herefordshire Council on Monday.

A spokesman from London 2012 said they had been “inundated”

with nominations from the public, sponsors and the British Olympic Association.

“Clearly we’d like it if all people run within their local community but in reality it would be logistical nightmare.

“Where possible, we have tried to make sure they are within an hour’s travelling time of their hometown.

“We’d hope people still show their support for the runners.

“As far as many cities, towns and communities are concerned it’s still a great honour so one would hope they shouldn’t be too put off by the fact there are people not from their area.”