2010 Olympic Torch Relay Route: 45,000-kms starting at Victoria

[mr.x]

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Torch Relay route announced

Gary Kingston, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008

The torch relay for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games was always going to end in British Columbia, inside B.C. Place Stadium.

But the iconic flame's 106-day cross-country journey will also begin in the province before criss-crossing the nation on its way through every province and territory.

The 2010 Olympic organizing committee (Vanoc) announced today at a splashy ceremony in West Vancouver that the torch relay will start in Victoria on Oct. 30, 2009.

After four days on Vancouver Island, it will be taken to the Queen Charlotte Islands and Atlin in northern B.C. before heading into the Yukon and Northwest Territories. In early November, it will land in North America's easternmost tip, historic Cape Spear in St. John's, Newfoundland, before embarking on a cross-Canada journey that will put it back in B.C. on Jan. 21, 2010.

"The Olympic torch relay is a tremendous opportunity to unite the country and make the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games Canada's Games," said Gary Lunn, the federal minister of state for sport. "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring together millions of Canadians, in every province and territory, as we celebrate and welcome the passing of the Olympic Flame.

"As it makes its way across Canada, it will touch the soul of this great nation and inspire the world."

The relay will spend a total of 27 days in B.C. and visit 266 communities or places of interest. The torch itself will be carried by 3,500 torchbearers.

Canadians interested in carrying the torch can apply at iCoke.ca or at three different RBC web sites, including http://www.carrythetorch.com/. Coca-Cola and RBC are the relay's presenting sponsors.

A Vanoc release said the route through B.C., which includes visits to the 1,770-metre high Kootenay Pass and the site of Canadian Pacific Railway's Last Spike at Craigellachie in 1885, will put it within a one-hour drive of 92 per cent of the province's population.

The torch will cover 9,750 kilometres by land, water and air.

Overall, the torch relay route will be the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history, stretching 45,000 kilometres within Canada.

"When designing this route, we wanted to include as many Canadians as possible," said Vanoc chief executive officer John Furlong. "It is our hope and our dream to unite this country and bring Canadians closer together to discover the many cultures and perspectives that make up our nation.

"We will share the Olympic Flame with young and old, northern and southern, eastern and western - and everyone in between - in order to make these truly Canada's Games."

[mr.x]

VANCOUVER — The 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay will wind through the Toronto area, as part of a coast-to-coast event involving 12,000 Canadians.

Vancouver organizing officials said today the relay will spend 21 days in Ontario in late 2009 and early 2010 with stops including Toronto, Oshawa, Mississauga, Brampton and York Region.
"We wanted to include as many Canadians as possible," said John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). "It's our dream to bring Canadians closer together to rediscover the many cultures and perspectives that make up our nation — to celebrate Canada."

The Canadian portion of the relay will begin Oct. 30, 2009 in Victoria and wind its way through British Columbia before heading to Canadian Forces Base Alert in Nunavut, some 900 kilometres from the North Pole. The torch also will visit Point Pelee, the southernmost point in Canada, and Cape Spear, Nfld. the easternmost tip of the country.
The relay will be in the Toronto area Dec. 17 and 18. Full route details aren't available, but organizers said earlier this year they want to include iconic places in Canada, which suggests stops on Yonge Street, Toronto City Hall and the CN Tower.The relay will cover 6,350 kilometers in Ontario with some 2,900 torchbearers.

Organizers say about 90 per cent of Canadians live within an hour's drive of some part of the relay route.

"Metaphorically, we want to bring the flame to everyone's front door," Furlong told the Star earlier this year.

Furlong said the torch, designed by Bombardier, will be built in such a way that it can't go out.

"Never," he said. "Underwater, over water, in the snow, it doesn't matter. Wind, snow, rain, sleet, tornado, it doesn't matter. That thing has to burn."

The Vancouver torch relay will be the longest domestic relay in Olympic history, stretching 45,000 kilometres inside Canada.

"I think the significance of the relay is the stimulation of public interest in the host nation in the leadup to the Games," said International Olympic Committee member Kevan Gosper of Australia. "It really is the dawn of the Games. First you have the bid announcement, then there's lots of hard work, and then finally the relay. It's highly participatory ... and it allows people to really grasp the Olympic movement."

Unlike Beijing this year, the torch won't be making any appearances outside the host country. Protesters in France and other countries came out in force when the Beijing torch went through, a move that caused no end of headaches for organizers. Olympic officials have vowed not to make that mistake again.

"The decision to have the torch go from Greece straight to the host country is the right one," Gosper said.

You also can log on to vancouver2010.comfor relay details, including information on how to apply to be a torchbearer.

[Yume-sama]

I would love to see this torch work underwater.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

I would love to see this torch work underwater.

[mr.x]

Vancouver 2010 Torch Relay video, featuring "Fix You" by Coldplay:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/torc...zg9/index.html

[baggab]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

I would love to see this torch work underwater.

I'm guessing they designed it like that to evade the Anti Poverty Committee?

Can't wait to see the scuba diver emerge from english bay and run into BC place in flippers.

[raggedy13]

So who do you all think would make the best candidate to light the cauldron during the opening ceremonies??

The first choice that comes to mind for me is Rick Hansen so I'm not surprised by the following two articles. I think a very close second would be Betty Fox - it would be all the more significant considering her son's memorial is right outside the stadium. Maybe one of them could do the Olympic lighting and the other the Paralympic one? Wayne Gretzky seems much too cliche.

I'm curious as to who people from the rest of Canada would choose. Would they be annoyed if "Canada's games" had a BC personality to light the torch?

From today's Province and Vancouver Sun:

Who should light Olympic flame in B.C.?
Decision isn't as easy as you might suppose . . .

Jon Ferry, The Province
Published: Monday, November 24, 2008

With all the grim economic news, November is proving yet again to be the cruellest month in Metro Vancouver.

The major positive is that preparations for the 2010 Winter Games finally are moving into high gear, with Friday's announcement of the 45,000-kilometre Olympic torch relay, the start of which is less than a year away.

Now there are some Metro Vancouver folks who still view the Olympics as a corporate conspiracy to crush the poor. And they are quick to remind us that the relay itself dates back to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, when it was used by the Nazis to bolster their racist regime.

"Only the political and corporate elite -- from real-estate developers to security corporations -- have anything to gain from the Olympics industry," trumpets the Olympic Resistance Network.

However, I suspect that, the closer we get to the Games, the harder it will become for those in the poverty industry who, beaten soundly in the battle for public opinion, are increasingly coming across as sore losers.

In a world filled with turmoil, the Olympics and its torch relay offer at least a light at the end of the tunnel. And the burning question now for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee is who will be the final torch-bearer to light the Olympic-cauldron flame in B.C. Place on Feb. 12, 2010.

It's harder than you might think. TSN did a poll earlier this year, with a list of worthy Canadians up for consideration, including green guru David Suzuki. But, as one blogger said, Suzuki would be more likely to extinguish the carbon-emitting flame than light it. And it was Wayne Gretzky who won the poll. Ho-hum.

Not that I have anything against the Great One, but I think most British Columbians would prefer a sports celeb from this side of the Rockies. Rossland's Nancy Greene Raine, of course, qualifies. She won gold and silver slalom medals at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics. Or how about Kootenay-born Kerrin Lee-Gartner, the 1992 Olympics downhill champion? Or both together?

I think, however, what we really need is someone more in keeping with the spirit of the times. A newsroom pal says that person really should be snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, who not only won gold at the Nagano Olympics in 1998, but did it in a certain inimitable B.C. style -- getting stripped of his medal because of marijuana in his system, then having it handed back to him. Cool, eh?

Others in line for final torch-bearer would include Burnaby's Joe Sakic, who has done everything in our national sport, including winning a gold medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.

If I had to put my money on it, though, I'd pick Rick Hansen. Paralyzed from the waist down following a truck accident at the age of 15, Hansen hasn't won an Olympic medal. But this man in motion has been a winner in just about everything else in life.

What do you think?


© The Vancouver Province 2008

Rick Hansen favoured to be last of 12,000 torchbearers

Allison Cross, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, November 24, 2008

Wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen would complete the final leg of the 2010 Olympic torch relay and light the Olympic cauldron, if Vancouver Sun readers had their way. Thirty-six per cent of readers who voted in an online survey set up by The Sun chose Hansen as the one they'd like to see light the cauldron during the Opening Ceremony.

Olympic ski champion Nancy Greene Raine is second choice, so far. Former place-kicker for the B.C. Lions Lou Passaglia and Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo were tied for third place, followed by athletes Joe Sakic, Karen Magnussen and Steve Nash.

More than 12,000 people will carry the torch which will cover 26,000 kilometres by land, 18,000 by air and 1,000 kilometres by sea.

Nine thousand of those spots will be open to the public and handed out through contests run by Coca-Cola and RBC Financial Group. One thousand of the spots offered by Coca-Cola will go to Canadians aged 13 to 19 who register on www.sogoactive.com and commit to adopting an active lifestyle.

The journey will begin in Victoria on Oct. 30, 2009, and finish in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010. In between those two cities, the torch will visit another 1,018 communities over 106 days, stopping for celebrations twice each day.

The torch will weave its way across the country and hit every province and territory, going as far north as Iqaluit, Nunavut, and as far east as St. John's, NL.

To become a torchbearer, visit www.icoke.ca or www.rbc.com/carrythetorch.

across@vancouversun.com


© The Vancouver Sun 2008

[mr.x]

Rick Hansen??? Pleeaseee.....he belongs in the Paralympic relay, not the Olympic one. Let Nancy Greene, an actual Olympian, light the Olympic cauldron.

[jlousa]

No way they need to use William Shatner, have him shoot his phaser and light the olympic flame.

I like Rick Hansen, he should be at the very top of any list.

[wrenegade]

I like Rick Hansen or Rob Boyd.

I really really hope it isn't Nancy Greene. Yes she won medals at the games, and every single one of her teammates received basically no training because she got all the attention as she was banging the coach.

I feel similar about the one-hit-wonder Ross Rebagliati. He did nothing for the sport or the town of Whistler after his one win, yet still has both a run and a fucking park named after him. There are many more athletes with ties to Whistler that deserve that kind of recognition, olympic gold or not, with Rob Boyd being at the top of my list.

[mr.x]

These RBC 2010 torchbearer commercials have been running all the time lately:

• Video Link




The official Vancouver 2010 Torch Relay promo by VANOC, with music by Coldplay ("Fix You"):
• Video Link

[deasine]

I hate the RBC commercial... especially that stupid random tune that infests your brain X___X"

[djmk]

i signed up to carry the torch.

i hope i get the chance.

[mr.x]

B.C. teen first to carry Olympic torch in 2010


By Jordana Huber, Canwest News Service

TORONTO - A British Columbia teenager has been selected as the first torchbearer for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Coca-Cola announced Monday.

Patricia Moreno, 18, of Vancouver will be the first of some 3,500 torchbearers to carry the flame along the 45,000-kilometre route, which begins in Victoria on Oct. 30.

The Britannia High School student, whose favourite school subject is physical education, is on the swim team and is planning to work as a lifeguard.

Moreno is also a member of her high school leadership program and after school wants to attend university to study kinetics and nutrition.

During the 106-day journey, the iconic torch for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games will travel to more than 1,000 communities, even reaching the very tip of Canada’s Far North - less than 900 kilometres from the North Pole.

After it is formally lit in Olympia, Greece, the flame is brought to Canada, sparking the relay in Victoria on Oct. 30, 2009. After four days on Vancouver Island, the torch will be taken to the Queen Charlotte Islands and Atlin in northern B.C. before heading into the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

In early November, it will land in North America’s easternmost tip, historic Cape Spear in St. John’s, N.L., before embarking on a cross-Canada journey that will put it back in B.C. on Jan. 21, 2010.

The torch will visit 266 communities in B.C., 73 in Alberta, and 39 in Saskatchewan. In Nunavut, the torch flies into the country’s newest and largest territory on Nov. 5, 2009 and will wend its way through four communities, three of them aboriginal.

The Olympic flame will arrive in Manitoba on Nov. 7, 2009 in the northern city of Thompson and visit 33 communities. Through Ontario, the torch will brighten 226 places.

In Eastern Canada, the torchbearers will run through 54 communities in Nova Scotia, including Windsor, which has long laid claim to being “the birthplace of hockey.” Fifty-eight towns and cities in New Brunswick will see the flame, 41 in Newfoundland and Labrador and 26 in Prince Edward Island.

[Kodii]

Lucky girl! What does she have that I don't?

[mr.x]

The torch design and torchbearer uniforms will be unveiled next Thursday at 365 days until the Games.

[raggedy13]

^Sweet. I've been waiting to catch a glimpse of the new torch design.

[Distill3d]

i like the torch route, except for one thing, they aren't going to run it down Hastings like they did in 1988 for the Calgary Olympics. I was planning on watching it from Hastings and MacDonald like I did with my family in 88. basturds!! lol

[mr.x]

^ right through the homeless and activist populations and the ghetto??

[crazyjoeda]

^ lol. The downtown eastside is not really a ghetto.