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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Thompson student fired up for torch run

By: Kevin Rollason

23/10/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Greek torchbearer Vassilis Dimitriadis carries the torch out of the ancient stadium during an Olympic flame ceremony at Ancient Olympia, Greece, Thursday. (JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Thompsonite Darion Latchman will set off Olympic torch celebrations in his northern community.

The Grade 9 student at R.D. Parker Collegiate has been chosen as the final relay runner of about 15 to carry the Olympic torch when it arrives in Thompson on Nov. 7, its ninth day in Canada.

Latchman, 15 will run up to a cauldron and light it with the torch, firing up celebrations that include music, fireworks and speeches.

He said on Thursday he didn't even know he'd been nominated to carry the torch until the city's Olympic relay organizer told him in June.

"I was so stoked and really surprised that people nominated me for this great honour," he said.

"Since then I've just been all calm and cool about it, but my mom is the one who goes around saying 'my son is carrying the torch.' I just say 'Mom!'"

The torch first reaches Manitoba by plane on Nov. 7, Day 9 of the relay across the country.

The day after the torch is carried in Thompson, it jets off to Alert, Nunavut, and then to Churchill for a few hours, before ending the day back in Alert.

The torch returns to Manitoba almost two months later on Jan. 5, when it crosses the border from Ontario on Day 68 of the relay.

Cory Sparkes, Thompson's facility co-ordinator who is also its Olympic Torch committee chairman, said it's great that Latchman got the nod.

"He's quite an athlete," Sparkes said of Latchman, who is involved in hockey, volleyball and track.

"He also volunteers in the community quite a lot. Almost everybody knows him in one shape or form.

"He embodies everything you think of when you think of the Olympics."

Sparkes said other events in Thompson include having the community walk the torch relay route two hours before it arrives, traditional aboriginal games, getting photos taken with a replica torch, and free bannock and hot chocolate.

"Being the first in Manitoba to have the torch is a great honour," he said.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience... . To see the flame running through our streets will be awesome. It's something you grew up watching."

The names of many of the other torch relay participants across the province aren't known because the two sponsors of the relay, the Royal Bank and Coca-Cola, haven't announced all the winners yet.

On Wednesday, RBC announced 27 broadcasters from Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium who will carry the torch. They include Winnipeg-born Brian Williams, who has covered the Olympics since 1976 and hosts CTV's Olympic Prime Time.

Williams will run in Winnipeg on Jan. 5. He said in a statement that he has reported on 12 Olympic games but "never carried the torch.

"The torch means so much to the people of Canada and it is a true honour for me to be running in the city in which I was born."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Relay spots

Manitoba communities participating in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay:

Day Nine (Nov. 7): Thompson.

Day 10 (Nov. 8): Thompson, Churchill.

Day 68 (Jan. 5): Falcon Lake, Richer, Ste. Anne, Steinbach, Dugald, Oakbank, Selkirk, Winnipeg.

Day 69 (Jan. 6): Winnipeg, Peguis, Gimli, St. Laurent.

Day 70 (Jan. 7): Winnipeg, Portage la Prairie, Oak Bluff, Sanford, Brunkild, Carman, Roland, Winkler, Morden, Elm Creek, Oakville.

Day 71 (Jan. 8): Portage la Prairie, Brandon, Dakota Tipi, Portage la Prairie, Long Plain, Gladstone, Neepawa, Minnedosa, Forrest Station, CFB Shilo, Brandon.

Day 72 (Jan. 9): Brandon, Sioux Valley Dakota, Virden.

Communities where official celebrations will take place: Thompson, Churchill, Steinbach, Winnipeg, Winkler, Portage la Prairie, Neepawa, and Brandon.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 23, 2009 A7

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