(Updated 10:30 a.m., Dec. 14)
Hundreds turn out to see Olympic flame pass through Orléans
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Ed Timson, 91, accepts the Olympic flame from one of the torchbearers during the Orléans portion of the Olympic Torch Relay this morning. Fred Sherwin/Photo

Hundreds of people, from Olympic purists to the merely curious, turned out to see the Olympic flame pass through Orléans this morning as it continues to travel on its 45,000 km cross-Canada journey to Vancouver, site of this year's Winter Olympics.

The flame arrived at the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex in a miner's lantern shortly before 7:30 a.m. It was then used to light the first torch in the Orléans portion of the relay.

The flame was passed down St. Joseph Blvd. from torchbearer to torchbearer every 300 metres until it got to 91-year-old WWII veteran Ed Timson who completed the final leg of the Orléans potion of the relay in a wheelchair.

Timson waved to the cheering crowd on both sides of St. Joseph Blvd. including a large contingent of supporters from the Orléans Legion. When he arrived at the intersection of St. Joseph Blvd. and Tenth Line Road, the flame was placed back in the miner's lantern and into a waiting vehicle which was to transport it to its next stop in Rockland.

After the flame had left and Timson's torch had been turned off, the long-time Orléans resident took a moment to reflect on the experience.

"It was absolutely wonderful. There were so many people who came down to cheer me on. People from Montreal and everywhere else, I couldn't belive it. It was one of those moments you never forget," said Timson who served with the RAF in the Second World War and later joined the RCAF.

As for the torch, Timson says he plans to keep it for as long as he can before his son takes it. Each torchbearer gets to keep their Olympic Torch Relay track suits and they have the opton of paying $345 for the torch which comes with a display stand. There are 12,000 torchs in all.

Louisa Deamicis was another one of the Orléans relay participants and like her fellow torchbearers, it was an experience she will never forget.

"It was so amazing, I can't tell you. I'm still shaking," said Deamicis after getting off the torch relay bus that picked up all the particpants along the route.

From Orléans the flame was to make a brief appearance in Rockland, before hop-scotching to Cornwall and Kingston.

The torch will travel through more than 1,000 commities in every province and territory in Canada covering a distance of 45,000 km before it finally arrives back in Vancouver for the opening of the 2010 Winter Games on Feb. 10.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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