Locals can win time carrying Olympic torch

The Olympic torch will kick off a marathon journey right here on the Island, and when the flame comes up through Central Saanich, North Saanich, and Sidney, you — that’s right, you — could be carrying it.

Of 12,000 potential torch-bearers along the 45,000-kilometre route — it covers all of Canada’s provinces and territories and their capitals, as well as touching both the eastern and western coasts and the northernmost point — more than half the positions will be open to regular Canadian citizens. No need to have achieved past Olympic glory or pre-eminence in the arts or anything like that; those who are interested in carrying the torch a little way along the route can head to the websites for Coca-Cola or RBC, sponsors of the torch relay, as both are offering a chance to win a slot as a runner.

Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Gary Lunn, who is now minister of state for sport, joined James Moore, minister of Canadian heritage and official languages, to announce the Vancouver Organizing Committee’s chosen route for the torch relay.

“These are Canada’s Games, and the torch relay will help showcase Canada to the world as it makes its way to the

Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” said Lunn, describing the route as heading from Victoria to the North Pole to St. John’s and back again. The route is touted as putting the torch within an hour’s drive of more than 90

percent of the country’s population. After five days on Vancouver Island, the torch will head north via the Queen Charlotte Islands, to the Yukon Territory, and then will loop across the country once and then again, on a more southerly trajectory.

Moore said that the federal government would be supporting celebrations all along the route, aimed to demonstrate Canadian excellence, creativity, and talent.

The relay is scheduled to begin on November 19, 2009, in Victoria; day one of the relay will see the torch swing through the CRD municipalities, touring up the Peninsula after a trip to the Western Communities.

The relay will wrap up in Vancouver on February 12, when the Olympic flame that will preside over the games will be lit. There has been no announcement so far on who will light the torch or carry it during the first or last segments of the relay.

Anyone interested in carrying the torch during the relay can sign up to win a slot at www.carrythetorch.com, www.icoke.ca, or www.sogoactive.com; all three require that entrants promise something — RBC, at carrythetorch.com, asks entrants to make a pledge to make Canada a better place, while Coca-Cola’s entrants should be prepared to explain how they’re living ‘Olympic values.’

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