THE London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has announced that tickets for some of its first test events this summer are already on sale to the public. The events are branded the ‘London Prepares’ series and include the first competitive sports to take place on the Olympic Park. The ticketed events are: mountain bike, July 31 at Hadleigh Farm, Essex; beach volleyball on August 9 to 14 at Horse Guards Parade, London; basketball from August 16 to 21 at the Basketball Arena, Olympic Park and BMX from August 19 to 20, at the BMX Track, Olympic Park. Tickets are on sale at www.ticketmaster.co.uk/londonpreparesseries and are sold on a first come, first served basis. Between now and 2012, LOCOG will run a number of test events at all of its venues. There will be different types of sporting contests including ticketed international invitation events run by LOCOG, non-ticketed events and existing events at which LOCOG will have a presence. The programme will focus on testing the sporting field of play; results, timing and scoring systems; how LOCOG teams work together and how people move around venues. LOCOG has also recently revealed the dates and some locations of the Olympic torch route. The 8,000-mile journey will start at Land’s End when the Olympic Torch arrives from Athens on May 19, 2012, and conclude when it arrives at Olympic Park on July 27 for the lighting of the cauldron at the official opening ceremony.