Toronto 2015 Torch Hits West Coast

(ATR) More than five years and 2,000 miles apart, the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games flame met the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics cauldron on June 14.

Pan Am mascot Pachi poses with Ashleigh McIvor. (ATR)

Former United States national team soccer player and retired Vancouver Whitecap Jay DeMerit passed the flame to his wife, Vancouver 2010 ski cross gold medalist Ashleigh McIvor during a stop at Jack Poole Plaza. The cauldron remained unlit.

Several dozen people watched DeMerit’s run and some posed for photographs with Toronto 2015 porcupine mascot Pachi. McIvor even brought her gold medal along for the occasion.

The day began with Grouse Mountain CEO Stuart McLaughlin paragliding while carrying the flame in a miner’s lamp. The day ended with a community celebration at the Richmond Olympic Oval, the 2010 Games speed skating venue, where Vancouver 2010’s "I Believe" singer Nikki Yanofsky performed.

The 41-day torch relay is reaching 130 communities via 3,000 torch bearers. The flame was lit at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico.

Written by Bob Mackin

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