[mr.x]

More details will be unveiled in November 2008, which would also mark the one year countdown until the relay begins in Olympia, Greece:

The logo is suppose to symbolize the northern lights...pretty sweet.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/images/torch_relay/OTR_TriComposite.jpg?action=scale&maxWidth=166&quality=80


Vancouver 2010 promises marathon torch relay

Updated Mon. Jan. 28 2008 11:02 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Committee says the cross-country torch relay leading up to the winter Games will be the longest such in-country relay in Olympic history.

The committee made its announcement Monday at Halifax's Pier 21, now an immigration museum but once the historic gateway for millions of new Canadians.

"We came to Halifax to symbolize the size of our country and that we are flat-out sharing these Olympic and Paralympic games with the whole country," John Furlong, VANOC's CEO, told Canada AM.

"We'll be taking this torch on the longest in-country relay in Olympic history, summer or winter -- some 35,000 kilometres. Expressed in different terms, it's almost the circumference of the Earth inside Canada."

The Vancouver relay's emblem is to be called "A Path of Northern Lights."

The flame will be transported from Olympia, Greece to Canada. Once in Canada, more than 12,000 torchbearers selected by VANOC and corporate sponsors Coca-Cola and RBC will carry the torch across every province and territory.

Furlong said they expect "millions of applications" for those 12,000 slots.

The relay will last about 100 days, with the flame arriving in Vancouver at B.C. Place Stadium on the evening of Feb. 12, 2010.

Specifics about the relay route, torchbearer application process, torch and uniform designs will be announced in November.

"Right now our team is hard at work trying to look at how we're going to make our way across the country," he said.

"Doing things that respect the iconography of Canada, that respect Canadian values -- trying to get Canadians excited," he said.

Ultimately, the relay's goal is to give Canadians a sense of ownership in the Games, Furlong said.

Several inquiries a week come into his office from communities asking if they will get to see the flame, he said, adding, "it has incredible inspirational powers and we want to share it."

The torch relay for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, billed as "Share the Flame," began on Nov. 17, 1987 and lasted 88 days. That relay was billed as the longest in history to that point.

More than 7,000 people carried the torch 18,000 kilometres in a journey that began in Newfoundland and veered as far north as Inuvik before arriving in Calgary.

[Canadian Mind]

thats a long trip. where they gonna go?

[mr.x]

thats a long trip. where they gonna go?

It'll last for between 100-120 days. They initially said the North Pole, and that the flame will be 2-hours within reach of 90% of the population.

[Canadian Mind]

North pole eh? that'd be pretty sweet. kinda hard to run on the ice though, would have to go by dog sled or summit.

Just thought of a nifty idea, with each major landmark that the torch passes by, have a cauldron or something similar that can be lit as well. Thinking it would be kinda neat to have a Canadian flagpole at the north pole with a small cauldron on top that would be lit by the flame, and would burn until the Olympics are over.

[Maldive]

Be sure to skip Toronto.. since Vans' effective lobbying helped squash (or at least excuse) the bigger summer Canuckistan olympic dream in favour of .......

[mr.x]

North pole eh? that'd be pretty sweet. kinda hard to run on the ice though, would have to go by dog sled or summit.

Just thought of a nifty idea, with each major landmark that the torch passes by, have a cauldron or something similar that can be lit as well. Thinking it would be kinda neat to have a Canadian flagpole at the north pole with a small cauldron on top that would be lit by the flame, and would burn until the Olympics are over.

They said something about using every form of transportation: boat, horseback, plane, dog sled, etc.

With regards to a cauldron at landmarks, that's what is usually done and i'm sure it will be done in Vancouver as well. They'll unveil what the torch and landmark cauldron looks like in November.


Beijing 2008:


landmark cauldron
http://images.beijing2008.cn/20080115/Img214232816.jpg


torch relay envoy
http://images.beijing2008.cn/20080115/Img214232857.jpghttp://images.beijing2008.cn/20080115/Img214232859.jpg


torch relay lanterns (in case the flame goes out, a backup flame)
http://images.beijing2008.cn/20080115/Img214232814.jpg


torch
http://images.beijing2008.cn/20080115/Img214232823.jpg
http://images.beijing-2008.org/20070426/Img214041924.jpg

[Only The Lonely..]

It might be a great way to meet other SSP members if we were responsible for relaying that torch.

There's certainly enough of us that it might even be plausible.

The only problem I could foresee is that lonely stretch between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg that Vid would have to do all on his own.

[SpongeG]

wow - I can't believe awareness is that low - Atlantic Canada despite a new survey showing 40 per cent of those polled did not know the event was taking place in Vancouver.

Vancouver committee in Halifax to promote 2010 Olympics

Organizers of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 were in Halifax Monday to talk about the countrywide Olympic torch relay, and to give the coming Games a boost.

John Furlong, chief executive officer of the Vancouver Olympic Committee, said he's not worried about the level of awareness about the Olympics in Atlantic Canada despite a new survey showing 40 per cent of those polled did not know the event was taking place in Vancouver.

"We have 100 per cent awareness in B.C., we have growing awareness across the country. In terms of Olympic history, we have the highest level of awareness for Winter Olympics, ever. So, it's good," he said at a news conference held at Pier 21.

"Our goal, frankly, is not to be so much concerned about awareness, but more about ownership. What we hope is that when the Olympic flame arrives in Vancouver, that every Canadian will look on and be inspired."

Furlong said he came to the East Coast to show Canadians that he's committed to including everyone in the event, not because he's worried about the survey results.

When the torch relay takes place, he said, it will involve 12,000 Canadians from coast-to-coast and will be the longest route in Olympic history.

"It's the longest ever by a wide margin in any one country. And we could have achieved that with a much lesser relay, but we wouldn't have been able to get as many communities and as many places. We're still working on the route, but I can tell you it will touch more people per capita than any country in the past," Furlong said.

More details of the route will be released in the fall after the Bejing Summer Olympics are over. The relay will take place over 100 days leading up to the Vancouver Games in February 2010.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2008/01/28/vancouver-olympics.html

[someone123]

Most people aren't very aware of current events. In my experience most people in BC know basically nothing about the East Coast beyond how many unemployed fishermen there are or whatever.

People also tend to have an inflated sense of their own area's importance and uniqueness, although the winter olympics are genuinely pretty significant. People will know about them in 2010.

[mr.x]

^ that's actually pretty good. you have to consider that we're one huge country with a very sparse population for its size. With the IOC allowing VANOC to go completely forward with its marketing program after the Beijing 2008 Games this summer, public awareness should increase even more. Remember, there are still 2 years to go. Most of the public awareness gains will be coming from the months and weeks before the Games as usual with past host cities. Nobody is going to care about some event 2 years down the road across the other side of the nation.

In comparison, Torino 2006 was a P.R. disaster. The organizing committee had marketed it heavily as a local event. They failed to captivate any interest outside of Piedmont. About 3 weeks until the 2006 opening ceremony, something like 30% of Italians knew about Torino 2006. There was such a lack of interest that TOROC had trouble raising domestic sponsorship (resulting in a post-Games deficit)....very much unlike VANOC, which was advised by the IOC to market 2010 as "Canada's Games" (it started with Ilanaaq). Thus, they were able to score key domestic sponsorships - nearly doubling their original domestic sponsorship goal to $800 million.

[MrChills]

Furlong said he came to the East Coast to show Canadians that he's committed to including everyone in the event, not because he's worried about the survey results.

Good ol' Canada, coast to coast from Vancouver to Halifax :rolleyes:

[vid]

The only problem I could foresee is that lonely stretch between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg that Vid would have to do all on his own.

I could use the exercise. :P In my current physical condition I'd collapse before we got to Murillo. :rolleyes:

They're probably drive or fly through the region, maybe stopping to do something special involving Terry Fox or something. If they even come here. They can do what bands and politicians do: Toronto to Winnipeg, because there is *nothing* in between.

(Between Orillia and Winnipeg live about one million people.)

[kirjtc2]

Good ol' Canada, coast to coast from Vancouver to Halifax :rolleyes:

I'm surprised they just didn't come to Toronto and call it the east coast.

I *hate* it when people out west refer to Ontario as "the east".

[MolsonExport]

^or when Manitoba is referred to as 'The West'

[raggedy13]

Well it is east of the geographic centre of Canada, and certainly east of the west coast. But I agree, anybody that calls Ontario the east coast needs to pick up an atlas.

EDIT: Excellent point MolsonExport!

[vid]

No, the Geographic centre is either Winnipeg or Nipigon. (Depending on who you ask.) It's also Arviat, sometimes. To be honest, I don't think we know where the geographic centre of Canada is actually located...

About Winnipeg to Ottawa is what I would call Central Canada. Toronto is "down east", but Central too.