The Olympic Torch won’t reach Bicester until next month, but one former resident held it high for the town.

Lise Honsinger was given the honour of carrying the flame through the streets of Aberdeen after helping raise £20,000 for three charities.

The 27-year-old, originally from Stratton Audley, near Bicester, was nominated by employer BP for efforts to get workers fundraising.

She set up a “Challenge Committee” after moving to the Scottish city in a bid to get fellow graduates to know each other better.

Along with colleague, Sarah Marriott, Miss Honsinger organised events including a ball and 10k run for Marie Curie, children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent and international charity the Mercy Corps.

Miss Honsigner’s torch team started from BP’s headquarters in Dyce in the morning and ran 600 metres past crowds of work colleagues, schoolchildren and residents.

The commercial analyst said: “It was amazing. It was very early.

“I got up at 4.15am and we had to be there at 5.25am.

“Because we were starting the day in Dyce the torch was lit from a cauldron rather than another person’s torch.

“We went as a team of five and changed the flame every 100m.

“The first 100m we walked, I went second and said to everyone let’s run.”

She said of the June 12 event: “It was just amazing. We could not stop giggling the whole way. All five of us were really happy.”

Those who take part in the relay can keep their torch for £215 and Miss Honsinger plans to bring it to the Red Lion pub in her home village.

She previously raised £3,000 for the Mercy Corps after she and friend Will Mulholland completed the gruelling 10,000 mile Mongol Rally driving challenge 2010.

The pair drove from West Sussex to Mongolia in five weeks.

The torch will arrive in the county on Monday, July 9, and pass through Bicester, Kirtlington, Woodstock, Kidlington and Oxford.

A celebration will be held in South Park that night and the torch will set off from Iffley Road for Abingdon and Wallingford the next day.