Canadian Paralympic alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft holding the 2010 Paralympic Torch © VANOC/COVAN
Three days after the Olympic Flame is extinguished on Canada’s west coast, a new flame will light in the heart of Ottawa-Canada’s national capital-sparking the official start of the 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay on March 3, 2010. The 10-day journey, involving an estimated 600 torchbearers, will illuminate the extraordinary achievements of Paralympians and celebrate the possibilities of the human spirit through sharing the message of courage and determination embodied by the flame.
More than 1,300 athletes and officials from more than 40 countries will take part in five sports (alpine and cross-country skiing, ice sledge hockey, wheelchair curling, and biathlon) during the 10-day 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler next March. The event comes just 12 days after the region hosts the Olympic Winter Games.
“The Paralympic Torch Relay will bring the spirit of competition and triumph that our Paralympic athletes personify to communities across British Columbia and Canada,” said Gordon Campbell, premier of British Columbia. “We’ve already witnessed how truly incredible these athletes are and how fierce the competition is when we hosted several Paralympic sport events at the 2010 venues earlier this year. British Columbians are excited to host Canada’s first-ever Paralympic Winter Games and to share in seeing the dreams of our athletes come true right here in their home.”
At a news conference on July 8, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) unveiled the torch and uniform design for the 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay. Brad Lennea of Whistler, British Columbia, a retired member of Canada’s Para-Alpine Ski Team and a Paralympic Torchbearer in Beijing, and fellow skier Karolina Wisniewska of Vancouver carried the distinctive steel blue torch, inspired by the Canadian winter landscape and the lines etched on ice by winter sports.
The one-metre-long torch, designed by Bombardier, Montreal, Quebec, has an ergonomic, curved, and modern design and features the emblem of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, a red maple-leaf air intake cut-out and an engraving of the Games motto: With Glowing Hearts/Des plus brillants exploits. It also has robust technology created by Bombardier’s aerospace and transportation design teams to weather the extremes of the Canadian winter. The torch can be operated in temperatures ranging from -122 degrees Fahrenheit to over 104 degrees, through rain, sleet, snow, and wind.
The Paralympic Torchbearer uniform, which complements the torch design, is steel blue in color and accented with bright bursts of blue and green on the jacket’s left arm. The uniform, designed and produced by the Hudson’s Bay Company, Toronto, Ontario, consists of a jacket, pullover pants, knitted hat, and knitted red mittens. The uniform is a commemorative keepsake for torchbearers.
The uniform also features the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay emblem on the chest and the IPC symbol, known as agitos, on the back. Silver reflective elements, including “Vancouver 2010” on the right jacket sleeve and right back pant leg, have been added for prominence and visibility.
