(ATR) The Olympic torch relay will begin its Canadian journey in Victoria, British Columbia on Oct. 30, 2009 at Mile 0 of the Trans-Canada Highway, within sight of Washington State's Olympic Mountains. It will end 27,900 miles and 106 days later at B.C. Place Stadium for the Feb. 12, 2010 Opening Ceremony of the XXI Olympic Winter Games.
VANOC CEO John Furlong, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and federal sport secretary Gary Lunn unveiled the route at Key Meek Centre on Friday. VANOC budgeted $23 million USD and the federal government announced $19.38 million USD last February.
The traditional lighting ceremony in the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece will happen in late October and the flame will be transported by air to Canada in a secure canister.
The relay will cover Canada’s extremes: Point Pelee, Ontario, to the south, Cape Spear, Newfoundland, to the east, Old Crow, Yukon to the west and the Canadian Forces station at Alert, Nunavut, the world’s most northerly settlement.
The coast-to-coast route in the world's second largest country includes 1,020 "communities and places of interest," 115 aboriginal settlements and 14 Canadian Forces bases and stations. One hundred modes of transportation will be used along a route that will be within an hour’s driving distance for an estimated 90 percent of Canada’s 32 million people.
Olympic host province British Columbia gets the torch for 27 days and 5,933 miles. It will visit 256 communities and places of interest and 50 aboriginal settlements. Some 3,500 torchbearers will cover 713 miles. Most of the 12,000 torchbearers will be chosen via contests run by co-sponsors Coca-Cola and RBC.
British Columbia's Kootenay Pass, at 5,807 ft., will be the highest point of the relay. It will stop at Craigellachie, British Columbia, where the last spike was driven in the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885.
The relay includes a BC Ferry cruise from Prince Rupert on the north coast to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. The procession enters Whistler on Feb. 5, a week before the opening ceremony, and will also be paraded through Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations reserves for three days. The Vancouver route will include the Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park.
A team of 40 VANOC employees is planning the relay, which will be produced by a traveling crew of 200. Precise times and routes will be announced closer to the relay. The flame will be transported between most communities by car, ferry or plane.
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics' torch relay is Canada’s third.
The Olympic flame for Montreal 1976 was beamed from Athens, Greece to Parliament Hill in Ottawa via satellite and laser beam. It traveled 480.5 miles in four days in Greece and Canada with 1,214 torchbearers.
The Calgary 1988 torch relay was 11,160 miles through 800 communities over 88 days. The 6,500 torchbearers were chosen from 6.6 million applications.
The last North American relay was for Salt Lake 2002. The Olympic flame was carried through 46 states over 13,469.5 miles by 12,012 bearers. The U.S. leg began in Atlanta, site of the 1996 Summer Games.
Olympic Torch Relay Key Dates
Late October 2009: lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece
Oct. 30: arrival in Victoria
Nov. 3: Whitehorse, Yukon
Nov. 11: Remembrance Day at Goose Bay Canadian Forces Base, Newfoundland
Dec. 10: Montreal, host of the 1976 Summer Olympics
Dec. 12: Ottawa, Ontario
Dec. 17-22: Golden Horseshoe -- Oshawa to Brantford, Ontario
Dec. 24: Christmas Eve in London, Ontario
Dec. 31, 2009: New Year’s Eve in Val d'Or, Quebec
Jan. 1, 2010: New Year’s Day from Val d'Or to Timmins, Ontario
Jan. 18: Calgary, host of the 1988 Winter Olympics
Feb. 5: Whistler, British Columbia
Feb. 12: Vancouver, opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Torch Relay: By the Numbers
Days: 106 from Oct. 30, 2009-Feb. 12, 2010
Total distance in Canada: 29,760 miles
By land: 16,120 miles
By air: 11,160 miles
By water: 610 miles
Communities/places of interest: 1,020
Community celebrations: 187
Aboriginal communities: 115
Modes of transport: 100
Canadian Forces bases and stations: 14
With reporting from Vancouver by Bob Mackin
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