AS Britain’s Paralympic athletes return home from Rio on a special flight, Team GB are counting their medals after the UK’s most successful Games.
Both the Olympic and Paralympic teams beat their medals tallies from four years ago, when London hosted the competition, coming second in the medals tables.
Great Britain won 147 medals (64 gold) at the Paralympics and 67 medals (27 gold) at the Olympics.
The was compared to 2012, when Team GB won 120 medals (34 gold) in the Paralympics and 65 medals (29 gold) at the Olympics.
The team of 2012 was hailed as “our greatest” and honoured with a parade through the capital in front of adoring crowds.
And it has just been announced that this year there will be two official celebrations featuring the entire Olympic and Paralympic teams.
Here’s our guide to everything you need to know about Team GB’s parades…
Where will they be?
It was officially revealed that Team GB will have two parades – one in Manchester and one in London.
There are also plans for a smaller event in Leeds for the team’s Yorkshire contingent, such as triathletes the Brownlee brothers and Paralympic wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft.
When will they be?
The Manchester parade will take place on 17 October, with the London event coming a day later, on 18 October.
The Rio Heroes homecoming celebration in Leeds is scheduled for 28 September at 5.45pm.
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What are the routes?
The routes for the main events in London and Manchester have yet to be announced.
But there has been a fair amount of speculation based on previous parades.
London’s 2012 parade for Team GB started at Mansion House, passing St Paul’s Cathedral and Trafalgar Square before heading down The Mall to Buckingham Palace.
And the celebration in Manchester could well follow a similar route to Manchester United or Manchester City’s Premier League winning parades in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
The procession is expected to pass down Deansgate and through Albert Square, after possibly starting at the Town Hall.
The route for the Leeds celebration next week is the only to be officially announced so far.
The parade will start at outside Leeds Art Gallery, and then go on to Park Row before heading to City Square, Boar Lane and Briggate and then back to Headrow.
How to watch
Obviously the best way to watch the events would be to make it down to line the parade route and soak up the atmosphere.
But if the journey is too long, the events in Manchester and London are sure to be televised – although the details of channels and times are yet to be announced.
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