The Olympic Flame Arrives In Victoria, B.C.

Although I’ve been doing my absolute best to try and ignore all of the hullabaloo leading up to the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver this coming February, events of the the last few days here on Vancouver Island have all but made that impossible.

The Olympic flame arrived at Victoria International Airport at 8:42am on Friday on a Canadian Forces plane direct from Athens Greece; and, with it’s arrival came wall to wall, 24/7 coverage of the event in every news media outlet in Canada.

Canadian First Nation Chiefs transported the Olympic Flame in a miners lantern across Victoria’s Inner Harbour during the torch lighting ceremonies in Victoria.

The honor of lighting the Olympic Torch and being the first torch carriers fell to Canadian Olympic Gold Medal winners Catriona Le May Doan(speed skating), and Victoria’s Simon Whitfield(triathlon). They lit the torch in front of the B.C. legislature and ran the first leg of the relay along Victoria’s Inner Harbor.

After the morning’s ceremony, the flame travelled all throughout Victoria and up the Saanich Penninsula as far as Sidney. It came back down the Peninsula to the University of Victoria, through Oak Bay and Victoria, down to Beacon Hill Park and along Dallas Road before returning to the legislature at 7:30pm. Today, the torch will begin it’s trip up-Island including a brief stop right here in Cowichan Bay around noon.

The Torch Relay Route for Victoria, the Peninsula and Cowichan Bay

Vancouver Island is just a small part of the journey the torch relay will take in the next three months or so. After leaving Vancouver Island, the relay will then go up the coast of B.C. before heading north on it’s cross-Canada journey – a trip expected to cover at least 30,000 miles – all the way to Newfoundland, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories as it passes through communities in every province and territory . The Olympic Torch will arrive in Vancouver at the opening of the Olympic Games on February 12, 2010.

The big concern around the arrival of the Olympic flame was, of course, security and, in particular, threats from the seemingly endless groups of protesters. However, yesterday, everything went well and there were no problems. Even the weather cooperated as it was a balmy 67F by mid-afternoon.

As with every event – not everyone is happy, and the Olympics are no exception

I’m not a big fan of the Olympic Games no matter where they are held. To me, it just seems like a big, giant 2 week party for a bunch of overpaid athletes and Olympic officials who think they are royalty. Just imagine what could be done with the $1 Billion that is being spent just on security for these games? Anyway, the torch relay will leave the Island tomorrow, the hype will die down for a while, and by the time it starts up again in early February, I’ll be far away in Palm Springs – in the sun, far, far away from snow, winter and the Olympics.

Have a great Saturday and thanks again for visiting.