The City of Greater Sudbury encourages residents to apply for the opportunity to be one of 12,000 Olympic torchbearers who will carry the torch as it travels through Canada before the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.
Torch relay participants will be people who are committed to living active, environmentally friendly lives, and who are inspired to make Canada a better place to live.
The torch will travel 45,000 kilometres over 106 days, starting on October 30, 2009. Greater Sudbury has been selected to be the site of a community celebration during the torch relay, one of 200 such communities across the country.
The local celebration will take place on January 2, 2010.
City resident Sally Lesk participated as a torchbearer during the preparations for the 1988 Calgary Olympics.
“I remember the feeling of awe and anticipation as our team of eight torchbearers boarded the official motor home, all dressed in our red and white Olympic track suits with the colourful relay emblem. We were surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands, of people - not only friends, family and well-wishers, but also media and security personnel,” she said, in a release.
“I thought it rather odd that a school bus had just pulled in, when I realized it was crammed with my students, band members and their parents from Nickel District Secondary School. They were cheering, screaming and waving. There was even a hand-painted sign that read 'Share the Flame!' running the length of the bus. It was a bitterly cold January night on Highway 17 West, but the air was electric. The whole crowd joined the already huge relay convoy, and by the time it was my turn to carry the torch on a usually lonely stretch just outside McKerrow, the noise was just crazy loud. I remember the moment the torch was put into my hand, and I held it high and started to run.
“The road was lined with people of all ages, all just wanting to be there to share the warmth and the glow of that flame. It’s very hard to describe, but I know every one of us felt we were part of something very big, very joyous, and very special. I’m so glad we Canadians have another opportunity to have that feeling. I’m definitely applying for the 2010 relay.”
Interested individuals can apply for this opportunity through Coca-Cola and RBC’s public selection process. The deadline for applications is July 15. For more information and links to the online applications, please visit www.vancouver2010.com/torchrelay.
