The Story by Colleen Ruddy

This summer I was home visiting my parents, helping them to paint the new home they had just purchased. I was taking a break, checking my email, while they energetically discussed what colour to paint the den. Sitting in my inbox was “Congratulations! You are a torchbearer”.

I opened the email and scanned it in dumbstruck awe. I turned and looked at my parents. When they realized I was starring at them, they stopped “discussing” and said “What?” in unison.
“I’m a Torchbearer” was all I could say.

They hugged me and congratulated me but it took a while before it really sunk in that I had essentially won the lottery. There would only be 12,000 torchbearers in all of Canada, out of millions who had applied. I won through the RBC contest that hundreds of thousands of Canadians entered.

It was very exciting to get back to school in September and share the news with the whole school. Everyone at Sacred Heart was very supportive and excited as the day approached. I received a wonderful send off from the school that included a blessing from both Father Pier and Bishop Weisner.

Finally, the moment had arrived. I went up to the CN Center to check in and pick up my uniform and I was early enough to see the first relay team head out with smiles on their faces and pristine white torches in their arms. I was taken upstairs with a group of my peers and we introduced ourselves as we were given our numbers. We were about to share a very special event together and we all wore expressions of complete joy.

Nadine, from Gatineau, Quebec, took us out on to a balcony overlooking the exhibition grounds and told us all about the relay across Canada and what to expect. She impressed upon us the importance of the flame we were about to carry, the historic opportunity we had been given and encouraged us to share that moment with everyone around us. We went down to the shuttle bus and were given our torch. Finally, it was in my hands! We practiced running around the grounds and the positioning for the transfer of the flame. We took a group picture and then we were off!

Driving down to the spot where my team would begin our leg of the torch relay my stomach was doing flips. I was the first runner on my team! The bus arrived at the corner of Tamarack and 17th and I saw so many of my students and staff there waiting and cheering, holding the Sacred Heart banner. I wanted to jump out right then, but the bus made a loop around the block and parked. Nadine had a few more words of encouragement for us and a couple videos for us to watch. We were in tears by the end of the videos with the emotion they invoked. The overpowering reality of what we were about to do was hitting us - step in to history carrying a flame that had been passed down through the ages and kept alive by the power of the human spirit.

Finally Nadine turned to me and told me it was time. “Good Luck” everyone shouted “Have Fun”. I got off the shuttle and waved to everyone. The moment I stepped down, I was surrounded by friends and my Sacred Heart family. I posed for as many pictures as I could but the time flew by and before I knew it the RCMP officer was telling me to step out so he could turn on the gas in my torch. As I stood in front of him, I turned to look over my right shoulder down 17th. Time (and my heart) stopped. There in the distance, lighting up the dark was the flame, carried by a girl I’d never meet, coming towards me. The officer turned on the gas and told me to go stand in the center. I could barely take my eyes off the torchbearer coming towards me to move. All too soon, she was standing in front of me. We raised our torches high over our heads and she lit my torch. I was holding the Olympic Flame from Greece in my hands. I took a moment and looked at it, turned to the sea of familiar faces and waved. I then looked right at the camera truck in front of me and waved to it knowing my family back east in Montreal and Ottawa and friends overseas were watching. I tried to go slow and walked the first few step so pictures could be taken, then changed to a slow jog. Students were there cheering me on, holding signs they’d made for me - it was wonderful. Before I knew it, I was rounding the corner on to 15th and Dave was standing there waiting with his torch. I slowed, turned my back to the crowed and lifted my torch high one more time to transfer the flame to Dave’s torch. I gave him a quick hug and told him to have fun. I faced the RCMP officer and he turned the flame off. I watched as it slowly disappeared from the tip of my torch. The moment was over.

I got back on the shuttle, which was completely empty, since I had been the first runner. The fuel canister was removed and the copper line cut, so that only the Olympic flame will have ever been carried by my torch. The shuttle bus followed the relay route and picked up torchbearers as they finished there leg. We all got on the bus with the same goofy expressions on our faces.

“Did I just do that?” “That was amazing!” “Can I do it again?” were a few of the commonly hear phrases.

It is so hard to describe the feeling of participating in the Olympic Torch Relay: Total joy. Total pride. Overwhelming sense of community. It was the best feeling on earth, and I got to share it with everyone - not just friends and family, but strangers too, united by this one flame. I spent a few hours up at the Exhibition grounds taking pictures with people and letting them hold the torch. Everyone was polite and respectful; they just wanted to be close to the torch for a moment. A lot of negative things can be said about the Olympics but I think it is important to remember the positive things it brings to a community, a country, and the world. It is the one time, worldwide, we all agree to play by the rules. We unite as people to celebrate our athletes and their accomplishments. We show our pride in our country and in ourselves. We celebrate as a people that we have kept this grand tradition going since ancient times.

Thank you to the staff, students and families for supporting me - Go Canada!