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| For updates on all the preparations for Vancouver 2010, check Jim Byers' Travel blog. |
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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.
