Let the countdown begin.

Today (Wednesday) marks exactly one year until the B.C. Summer Games touch down in Langley.

And with that in mind, members of the 2010 Summer Games organizing committee appeared before Township council on Monday night.

“Because it is our one-year kickoff, we wanted to give them a heads up,” said Jamey Paterson, vice-president of the 2010 B.C. Summer Games organizing committee, on Monday morning.

Ordinarily, the official countdown to the Games — which run July 22-25, 2010 — would have been marked with a lot more fanfare, like some sort of function or party.

But with it being the middle of the summer and a lot of people away, it would have been hard to gather everyone together, Paterson admitted.

“We are really going to kick this off in September,” he said.

“It was just an opportunity to let people know we are having the Games next year,” added organizing committee president Michael Jackstien.

“We want to get people to start thinking about (the Games) because we want to start recruiting volunteers in September.”

The Games will bring more than 6,500 athletes, officials, coaches and volunteers to town for the four-day competition.

This is the first time in the 31-year history of the Summer Games that they are being held in the Township.

“(The Games) are a stepping stone for many athletes to advance to national, international and Olympic competitions,” Paterson said.

“The citizens of Langley will have an opportunity to watch talented and accomplished athletes from across the province compete.”

Either later this week or sometime next week, the committee is hoping to get final approval from the B.C. Games Society on the logo.

This will allow them to create their letterhead and other necessary supplies to get things rolling for the Games, including a website.

Back in April, Township Mayor Rick Green announced the Games’ board of directors, a group of 17 community members.

The directors have been responsible for filling the various roles for the different departments

“Other than getting their chairs in place, we didn’t want to burden them too much through the summer,” Paterson said.

But come September, the preparation will hit full steam.

The various directors and chairs will take part in a three-day orientation in September and then they will begin the task of filling the roughly 3,000 volunteer spots.

Judging from past experience at the 2000 B.C. Disability Games held in the City, Paterson does not feel filling that number will be a problem.

“We were very pleased with the turnout of volunteers,” he said.

“Langley has always been very good that way so I don’t think there will be a problem.”

Jackstien said there will be a more formal event in September for the community.