Olympic flame winging its way toward Victoria aboard military transport
Published Friday October 30th, 2009
VICTORIA, B.C. - The torch for the 2010 Winter Olympics is due to arrive in Victoria Friday morning and thousands of people, including a host of dignitaries, are expected at the B-C legislature to welcome it to Canada.
The Olympic flame has its own row of seats on the Canadian military plane that's carrying it from Athens. The precious fire is encased in a miner's lantern and will transfer to a cauldron before it begins the longest torch-relay in Canadian history.
There are actually four flames and six lanterns aboard the flight - the logistics of the coming 106 day relay mean organizers must have several lanterns to ensure one is always ready to go.
They were all lit from the flame that was ignited in Olympia, Greece on Oct. 22 and they all boarded the flight to Victoria with a champagne toast from the head of the Vancouver Games. John Furlong also led the 80 or so people accompanying the flame in a rendition of "O Canada."
By the time the Olympic flame arrives in Vancouver on February 12th, it will have been carried 45-thousand kilometres, to more than one-thousand Canadian communities, by more than 12-thousand people.
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And did our troops at war in Afghanisatn have to put themselves at risk or go without some needed resource because this plane was not available to them?