An Olympic Moment

Preparations had begun months earlier. Alannah entered the contest to carry the torch by exercising weekly and entering her activity on a web site. One day she received an email that seemed too good to be true - she had actually been selected to carry the torch, and the location and time were given down to the exact minute and starting and finishing street addresses. Her head was in the air the rest of the day. As further communications came in the following weeks, it became more real for her but I think it was not truly believable until a package arrived in the mail with her official torchbearer uniform: a white sweat suit, white tuque, red mittens and a few cheering accessories. It’s nice to get emails but seeing her put on the official clothing was really an exciting moment.

Although the relay location was about a three hour drive away from our home at the eastern edge of Ottawa, there was no question we would all be going – in fact it was a full-day trip. A group of about 15 torchbearers assembled in the town hall of Saint-Hyacinthe, a number of kilometers away from Alannah’s relay segment. The organization for the event was tremendous, with a detailed explanation to all the torchbearers and their assembled families, shuttle buses to take the bearers to their designated spots, a short history of the torch relay, an explanation of official relay rules, torch carrying procedures and expected behaviors and a very professional support staff.

Alannah thought she might walk the 300 meters in order to savour her time with the torch but we were warned that the opposite usually occurs – that once a torchbearer carries a live flame the tendency is to run – and fast. We had a better than average opportunity to enjoy the relay moment. Since Alannah’s segment was at the start of the small town of Saint-Dominique, the RV carrying the flame in a lamp from the end of the previous town arrived at the relay spot (right on time) and her torch had to be lit from the lamp. Due to the wind she had to move into the entrance of the RV. When she turned around with a flaming torch her smile almost broke the sides of her face. After a few quick standing photos, she was off down the road.

My wife Carole and second daughter Kelsey and I had made a plan to record all portions of the short run. We were all going to see her light the torch. I was to take pictures at the start and then run along to try and get a few more. Carole would run ahead and catch her in the middle and near the end and Kelsey would run ahead to the next transition point and take pictures of the torch-kiss with the next torchbearer. Alannah headed out so fast I hardly had time to run ahead to take more photos, Carole was out of breath trying to get to the mid-point before Alannah and Kelsey barely made it to the transition zone in time. Alannah said afterwards that the run was effortless despite the fact we could hardly keep up with her. With only a few hundred meters to cover, the torch had pulled her along much faster than she intended or realized. For a few minutes she was the only person in the world carrying the Olympic flame across Canada and the energy was tremendous.

For the next little while as we drove back to Saint-Hyacinthe to meet Alannah, we saw the torch run pass by and later saw the group of torchbearers descend from the shuttle bus. Every one of them looked happy as could be and carried a hint of a glow along with their white suits and hats. They were celebrities for a day and proud to participate in an event celebrating the greatest athletes in the world coming to Canada for an Olympic Games and nothing would ever change that.

The red mittens will wear out, the suit and hat will age and fade before they are one day disposed of, but the memories of the day will be preserved and likely enhanced with time.