Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Running with magic

The Olympic flame sparks reflection as it inspires those who touch it
61157_l

They are a mom, a systems analyst, a high school student and a former mayor.

Included too are a teacher, a snowboard instructor, a bank account manager, a personal trainer and an environmental manager.

Though former Olympians are among their ranks, and a 2010 athlete going for gold this year, they are, for the most part, just regular Joes.

But on Feb. 5 and 6 they will be united in an unforgettable experience, carrying the Olympic flame through their own town.

"This is just the pinnacle," said Heather Paul, who is pregnant with her first child. "Running the torch with my son or daughter with me is..."

She's rarely speechless. Paul is at home on stage making audiences laugh in pantomimes, performing Shakespeare or putting on high school musicals. But today she simply cannot find the words to express how it feels to be one of two municipal employees chosen to carry the flame in Whistler.

"I'm going to be a crying mess is all I can say."

She isn't alone.

From one end of the country to the other on its 45,000 km journey across Canada, the Torch Relay has had a powerful impact, a moving and emotional experience for millions of Canadians.

Jim Richards has seen it happen first hand.

He's the keeper of the flame.

As the program director for the Olympic Torch Relay, Richards has been with the flame since its journey began in Greece in late October. Since then he has been on the road trip of a lifetime.

He has watched as the flame has "captured the heart of the nation" whether it was on roller blades or rowboats, on skis or in a small plane, on a surfboard or a skateboard.

"It's the magic of the flame itself," said Richards.

Don't believe in the magic? Doug Forseth does now.

It was Dec. 9. Day 41 of the torch relay. The snow was blowing sideways at Mont Tremblant, a blizzard on the way.

Forseth, Whistler Blackcomb's senior vice-president of operations, was one of three Intrawest employees, nominated by co-workers, interviewed and then chosen to run.

He was the first torchbearer of the day in Tremblant, miles away from home. He truly did not know what to expect.

Behind the crowds Forseth lit his torch from one of the 10 miners' lamps, which have protected the sacred flame since it was lit by the sun in Olympia, Greece.

As he began his leg of the relay Forseth no longer felt the minus nine degree winds blowing through his thin white torchbearer uniform, no longer felt the ache from his broken foot.

"There's other things that are more important than pain and cold," he said.

As throngs of cheering, unknown-to-him French Canadians engulfed him, Forseth made his way through the village carried along by the waves of emotion flowing towards him from the crowd.

"Everybody wants to touch the torch, to see the torch," said Forseth, whose voice still catches with the memory of that powerfully moving experience.

"All of these people, most of them aren't going to be even close to the Games and this is their moment to witness and to experience, to some extent, the Games themselves personally."

That's the magic of the flame.

Interesting, then, that though the symbol of the flame is rooted deep in Ancient Greece, the modern day torch relay only began in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics - and then it was part of Nazi propaganda, designed to add to the mythology around Adolf Hilter's reign.

Despite those darker modern day roots, the flame now embodies hope and spirit, and athleticism and a linkage of people and places around the world.

And that's why on Christmas day members of the torch relay team took the flame to the Children's Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre.

It was their day off.

Though the now famous red mittens and a chance to see the torch were a Christmas gift for the seriously ill children in the hospital, as it turned out, the true gift was seeing how the flame lifted their spirits.

"It was magic to see these people light up," said Richards.

That's not to say there haven't been some untouched by the magic. Protests have been part of the torch relay along the way. It has been re-routed in various locations like Victoria and Toronto to avoid protest rallies against the Games.

But by and large, from the North to the Maritimes and the Prairies, the crowds have been on side. They have had lumps in their throats, cheers on their lips, tears in the corner of their eyes.

After his torch run, Forseth posed with people anxious to have just a small keepsake of the day. He reckons he's on about 50 cameras of strangers in Quebec.

"They all wanted a piece of that moment and I think there's a lot of that going on all across Canada and it's pretty cool," he said. "I think this whole torch thing has been very positive for Canada."

Anticipation is now building.

It crept up a notch in Alberta, home of the 1988 Winter Games.

It's climbed even further since entering B.C. on Jan 22.

It's taken roughly three months and 40,000 km to get back here. In Whistler, which has had its share of emotional and spiritual ups and downs as it readied for the Games, seeing the torch in town will be a defining moment.

Former Mayor Drew Meredith said he hasn't yet been swept up in the Olympic fever despite the tangible signs that the Games are drawing closer.

The banners are up in the village, the roads are getting busier, there's a buzz vibrating through town.

"I recognize where we're going but I mean, in terms of the lump in my throat, that hasn't happened yet but I believe that that's when it will happen," of his moment to carry the torch.

In many ways, this is the visual sign that the Games are on their way. That the preparations all done. The venues are built. The athletes are chosen.

The torch relay will make its way to Whistler from Squamish on Feb. 5 stopping first at Whistler Olympic Park.

It will begin its run in the resort in the late afternoon, making its way through neighbourhoods from Function Junction to the Village.

 

Whistler: here are a dozen of your local torchbearers. Their collective stories, in a way, tell Whistler's story of its journey to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and offer a snapshot of the community's feelings and its anticipation of its moment in the sun.

 

William Roberts, Day 99 - Feb. 5, 12:28 p.m., from the Whistler Olympic Park sign on Callaghan Road to the Relay Route Marker

 

The ancient Olympic Games were a time when citizens of Greece put down their weapons of war and played games of sport.

Messengers wearing olive crowns invited citizens of the country to come to Olympia and announced a "sacred truce" so citizens felt safe to travel to the Games.

Well, William Roberts knows he can't get the countries coming to Whistler to put down their weapons.

He knows he can't stop war or fighting in Afghanistan.

But he can use the 2010 flame and his time as a torchbearer to raise some consciousness and much-needed money for kids in a worn-torn country.

To put it simply: he needs $8,000 to build a school playground in Kabul.

"It's very significant and meaningful to use the occasion to look back to the Olympic values around peace, understanding, excellence... and brotherhood," said Roberts.

"It seemed to fit pretty nicely."

The ideals fit so nicely that four years ago when the flame was extinguished at the end of the 2006 Torino Games, Roberts organized a Torch for the Truce parade in Whistler. About 30 people took part, skiing from the Roundhouse to the village with their lights. They finished the parade by signing a torch truce document .

"I really like to see (the Olympics) as a time of education and empathy about how other people are living and what we can do collectively," said Roberts.

To donate for the Kabul playground through Torch for the Truce go to the Whistler-based Playground Builders website at www.playgroundbuilders.org . The organization has built 45 playgrounds to date in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.

 

Arthur DeJong, Day 99 - Feb. 5 , just before 3 p.m., the Callaghan River Bridge below Whistler Olympic Park, chosen by the RMOW

 

Humble. That's how he feels to have been chosen to run the torch in the community he has called home for almost 30 years.

"It melts my heart to be chosen to run the torch in the community that I'm so passionate about, that I so love," said Whistler Blackcomb's (WB) Arthur DeJong.

"I mean emotionally, it runs as deeps as it can."

DeJong is WB's mountain planning and environmental resource manager and he's making things happen there. Last year Whistler Blackcomb was named one of Canada's greenest employers for 2009 in Maclean's .

The past eight years, as Whistler readied for the Games, have reaffirmed more than ever that we need to work with a global perspective, said DeJong.

"The Olympic flame not only represents international sport and competition, it represents international goodwill and co-operation," he said. "And in order to get through this century, the macro problems of the 21st century, there's 6.7 billion-plus people right now that live on the planet, the only way we're going to get through it is through co-operation. And the Olympic flame embodies international good will and co-operation. It bridges cultural divides. It represents what is so essential for us to succeed as a global community."

On a more personal note, DeJong's parents who are in good health in their late 70s will be traveling from Surrey to watch him run with the torch.

"To be able to embrace my parents with the lit torch, and knowing I don't have my parents that much longer, will be an eternal image," he said.

"That's going to be a moment held in time for me."

 

Mitch Sulkers, Day 99 - Feb. 5, 4:40 p.m. in Spring Creek, selected by the municipality

 

Carrying the torch through town will likely be Mitch Sulkers' main Olympic experience.

He won't be going to any events, won't be attending the medals' ceremonies.

That's because Sulkers and his wife, like hundreds of other Whistler families, are leaving town for the Games.

They are letting volunteers stay in their home for free while they head to Baja, California for a month.

"I know that when I come back my friends are going to have all sorts of stories to share with me," said Sulkers.

Likewise, he will have stories to share too.

Sulkers been teaching in the area for 23 years and was pivotal in creating the elite athlete program in the schools to allow students to train on the slopes without slipping at school.

He will be thinking of his fellow teachers when he carries the flame.

"I hadn't expected it at all," he said of being chosen as a torchbearer.

"I think it's an honour."

 

SQUAMISH LIL'WAT FIRST NATIONS CULTURAL CENTRE (SLCC)

 

Whistler's neighbouring First Nations - Lil'wat to the north and Squamish to the south - have a long history together.

But these Olympic Games have been a catalyst in bringing two nations even closer together.

In 2002 the two nations signed a Shared Legacies Agreement with Olympic organizers and the province of B.C.

In return for supporting the Games, the nations received 300 acres of Crown land, most of it in and around Whistler.

There were jobs created too. Squamish Nation built the day lodge in the Callaghan Valley; Lil'wat Nation built some of the roads and trails.

But perhaps the most obvious sign of this new 21 st century relationship is the multi-million dollar state of the art cultural centre in the heart of what they call their traditional territory - Whistler.

"That is definitely a crown jewel for us showcasing the resilience of our cultures but also the continuity of culture..." said Squamish Chief Ian Campbell.

During the Whistler portion of the torch relay a torchbearer from Squamish Nation will light the torch of a Lil'wat Nation member in front of the centre.

Campbell said they are proud to be partners in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"This has been something that has really inspired our young people in all areas whether it's athletics, business, education and trade, as well as artisans and cultural leaders - to have them all step up and welcome the world to our territory and to show that we are still here, that we invest in our young people."

 

Chase Lewis, Day 99 - Feb. 5, SLCC, chosen by Squamish Nation

 

Chase Lewis is just 15 years old, a student at Howe Sound Secondary School.

He has begun to learn the Squamish language through the CDs that have been sent out to members.

"Because the language is dying," said Lewis.

He wants to keep it alive.

When asked why he wanted to carry the torch he said simply:

"It's a once in a lifetime chance to carry the Olympic flame through my traditional territory."

He also knows he will be hereditary chief one day, likely around the time he turns 21.

His uncle, Chief Gibby Jacob, is giving him the $350 to buy his torch so he will have an eternal reminder of his Olympic journey.

Lewis said: "I'd like to thank my Uncle Gibby because he's sponsoring me to buy my torch."

 

Dillon Sampson, Day 99 - Feb.5, SLCC, chosen by Mount Currie

 

He's a 22-year-old member of the Lil'wat Nation and has lived in Mount Currie his whole life.

The 2010 Olympics have been a pivotal part of his life because out of winning the bid for the Games came the First Nations Snowboard Team.

Sampson was one of the first 10 members of that team.

"It definitely kept me away from drugs and alcohol and everything and kept me a lot more active," he said.

He competed with the team until two or three years ago, got his Level I instructors and has been teaching youth from the communities ever since.

He has just finished his fourth year at BCIT as an automotive technician with Ford specific training.

 

Drew Meredith, Day 99 - Feb. 5, Skiers Plaza to Municipal Hall, 6:30 p.m., chosen by the municipality

 

This former mayor isn't caught up in Olympic fever yet but he knows when he sees the images of Whistler beamed around the world that first night it will be a defining moment for him.

Drew Meredith is confident: "The whole world will want to be here."

This is, after all, one of the reasons for hosting the Games: to put Whistler on the world stage in front of three billion people and then to capitalize in the afterglow from the Olympics.

Meredith, who has been here for 40 years, has seen Whistler transform from a backwater ski town to a renowned four-season resort.

He was mayor for two terms, from 1986 to 1990, through what he calls some tough times where big decisions that would chart Whistler's course for years to come were made.

Though he got out of the political rat race after those terms, he has kept his oar in the water, helping chart the resort's course.

"I have maintained an ongoing continuous committee level activity and continue to help out where I can although the place has changed a lot since the '70s and '80s when we were digging ourselves out of a mud puddle," said Meredith.

"I'm really, really proud to have been part of it."

 

John Smart, Day 99 - Feb. 5, Village Stroll to the Clock Tower, 6:40 p.m.

 

He doesn't recall the relays so much but he does remember that moment when the flame lit the cauldrons at the 1992 Games in Albertville and the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.

"That was phenomenal at the two opening ceremonies I was part of, watching that take place," said Olympian John Smart. "It's just interesting being one of the carriers now en route for all of the new athletes who are going to be in my shoes waiting for that big cauldron to blow up.

"That's when it really hits."

John Smart was at the top of his game as a member of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team in moguls for almost 10 years.

He is a 13-time World Cup medalist and three time Canadian champion, not to mention a two-time Olympian.

Carrying the flame through Whistler, where he started his Momentum Ski Camps almost 20 years ago, will be a nostalgic and amazing experience, he said.

And aside from thinking about "not tripping," the same pressure he had in the gate, he joked, carrying the torch will bring back a flood of those Olympic memories.

"It's a great way I think for any Olympian to be involved in the Games again," said Smart.

"It's going to bring me back full speed into the Olympic mode."

 

Julia Murray, Day 99 - Feb. 5, taking the flame via snowmobile up Whistler Mountain to Steve Podborski, chosen by the municipality

 

There will be little doubt that when hometown girl Julia Murray holds high her torch she will know that all of Whistler is pulling for her.

Murray, 21, is one of the four Canadian women on the skicross team, competing at Cypress.

She calls her road to 2010 "pretty mind-blowing."

Just seven years ago she was a young teenage alpine racer carrying the flag into B.C. Place with the B.C. Olympic Youth Leadership Academy camp to hear that Vancouver was chosen to host the 2010 Games.

Today it seems like everything is coming together for Julia Murray.

"This year has just been amazing," she said. "I've really put it all together and believed in myself that I could beat all those other girls."

When the alpine racers take to the course they will be flying down the Dave Murray Downhill, named after Julia's dad.

He was one of the Crazy Canucks.

It's only fitting then that Julia should pass the flame to her dad's teammate Steve Podborski.

 

Steve Podborski, Day 99 - Feb. 5, passing on the flame to Tyler Allison who will light the cauldron in Skier's Plaza at 7 p.m., chosen by the municipality

 

The symbolism surrounding Steve Podborski's leg of the torch relay isn't lost on our local Olympian.

It's a far cry from his run with the torch in 1988 in the lead up to the Calgary Games.

Back then his part of the relay was through the Prairies and though it was an emotional and stirring experience, Podborski remembers it being "flat and cold."

This time it will be a little different.

He will be carrying the flame in the place he has called "home" for so many years.

The daughter of his late Crazy Canuck ski racing buddy Dave Murray will be lighting his torch.

He will ski it down Olympic Run on Whistler Mountain, part of the same path he raced in Whistler at the World Cup in 1982, the year he became the first non-European even to win the overall World Cup downhill title.

And he will be carrying the torch for the 2010 Games where he is assistant chef de mission for the Canadian Olympic Team. He is stationed in Whistler for the Games, supporting and representing the Canadian athletes to the media and the public.

"I can't tell you how cool it is," said Podborski of the connections to his torch run.

 

TYLER ALLISON, Day 99 - Feb. 5, 7 p.m., Skiers Plaza, lighting the cauldron - STAND ALONE PICTURE

 

Andrée Janyk, Day 100 - Feb. 6, 7:05 a.m., from Main Street along Northlands Boulevard towards Lorimer Road, chosen by RBC

 

The last eight years of Olympic planning have been a rollercoaster ride for Andrée Janyk.

True, she's mom to Britt and Michael and has closely followed their journeys from the Whistler Mountain Ski Club to the Canadian alpine team for the 2010 Games.

But Janyk has carved her own 2010 Olympic path too.

As a school trustee in the months and years after being awarded the Games, Janyk tried to bring an Olympic focus to School District #48. With that in mind, she tried to build partnerships with Olympic and municipal organizers to ensure the youth from one end of the corridor to the other had memorable experiences being in the host community.

It was, she admitted, a frustrating journey.

"I don't think that I was particularly successful," she said.

But she was successful in securing one of the top Weasel Worker volunteer positions on the downhill courses - chief of the slide slippers.

Since then she has been consumed in helping put together the best 140-member volunteer team to look after the men's and women's alpine courses.

"They help with the preparation of the course, moving the snow with their skis and smoothing the course out and then during the race making sure the course stays smooth for all of the racers," she explained.

It's a hefty job with the highest injury rate among volunteers. But she's up for the challenge.

When she runs with the torch, however, she won't be thinking of that rollercoaster, she'll be thinking of her dad, Peter Vajda.

He promoted Whistler's early Olympic bids and now has two grandchildren racing for gold in 2010.

"I was keen to apply to be a torchbearer because I really want to do it in the memory of my dad," said Janyk.

"It's about my dad. It's about what he believed the Olympics to be, about increasing the culture of sport for Canada. Coming from a European country where sport culture is huge and celebrating sport is huge, yeah I'll be thinking of him and his pride that his grandkids will be there too."

Britt and Michael will likely be away training, given the Relay is just days before their competition.

Janyk said: "I know their hearts are with me."

 

Greg McDonnell, Day 100 - Feb. 6, 7:30 a.m. by Mons Road towards Nesters, chosen by the RMOW

 

Greg McDonnell knows, perhaps better than anyone else, what makes the true heart of Whistler tick.

He knows why people come here with $50 to their name, no job on the table and no place to lay their head. And he knows why they stick it out here despite the challenges, the cramped accommodations and the high cost of living.

He was that guy once.

Now he's the father of three-month-old Van, and the executive director of Whistler Community Services Society, having spent the past decade working closely with the young and, more often than not, marginalized members of the community.

It was an honour, he said, to be chosen from the Whistler community. And, admittedly, a surprise.

Being asked to be a torchbearer caught him off guard because he hasn't shied away from the tougher conversations around the Olympics.

"As a result of this time and space we are dealing with some people who are trying to make a quick buck," he said of the unethical landlords who have raised rents or evicted tenants in pursuit of Olympic gold.

"Those are the challenges that lie within."

Yet he has been able to raise the issues and speak constructively about the solutions. And despite raising those concerns, he was still chosen to be a torchbearer.

"The significance as the day draws closer is striking me," he said.

"I feel pretty honoured to be asked."

 

Kary Firstbrook, Day 100 - Feb. 6, 11:46 a.m. at Seton Lake, chosen by RBC

 

At the time of this interview Kary Firstbrook had racked up 75 days in a row on her skis, well on her way to breaking her 200-day goal for the season.

To call this 49 year old an avid skier would be like saying Firstbrook is excited to carry the torch - it somehow just doesn't sum it up.

It will be an emotional, whirlwind, once-in-a-lifetime experience, she's sure of it.

Being a torchbearer, however, is just one part of Firstbrook's Olympic experience. It's an important part to be sure but just a small piece in her big contribution to Games.

Firstbrook and her husband will be hosting a Homestay volunteer for more than a month in their Whistler home. It's a program crucial to the success of the Games. With accommodation at a premium Olympic organizers relied heavily on willing homeowners like Firstbrook to put up hundreds of volunteers.

The Firstbrooks are also spending the 17 days of the Olympics, and the 14 days of the Paralympics, meticulously working the snow on the alpine courses. They are two of the 140 slide slippers, volunteer "Weasel Workers" who smooth the course with their skis.

Though the hours are long, with the day beginning in the dark early hours, and the conditions sometimes brutal, the volunteer work comes with its perks.

"Being on course to do all this slipping, I'm looking to improve my ski racing ability by watching the best in the world," said Firstbrook, her laughter infectious.

She understands the drive of a competitor: she just won the super G last week in Whistler Blackcomb's Kokanee Valley Race Series. It's the first win in two years. Her pride beams from within.

Firstbrook's Olympic roots run deep too. Her uncle, Peter Firstbrook, was a Canadian figure skater who placed fifth at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway.

As for that special 300-metre run, this mother of three boys (21, 19, and 17) has big carloads of family and friends driving out to Seton Lake to see her. She will be running beside the glacier waters of Seton Lake as the torch makes its way to Lillooet.

She said: "I'm so excited."

 

 



Comments