Carrying the Olympic Torch
Amy Gregson – Times Reporter
Be
ing an Olympic Torchbearer had always been a dream of Shauna Richard, from Edmonton, and that dream finally came true on Jan. 16 in Gleichen.
Richard was chosen to carry the torch as it makes it’s way across Canada en route to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, which begins Feb. 12.
“It was pretty overwhelming,” said Richard who carried the torch down Main Street in Gleichen. “I don’t know if anything can really prepare you for the actual experience.”
She had originally planned to walk with the torch but ended up jogging with it because the relay was running behind, especially after the train crossed the tracks in Gleichen just before the torchbearer from Siksika did.
“It all happens so quickly. I had someone give me some advice to just do it slowly and even if you think you’re going slowly, go even slower because it will be over so quickly.”
Richard had always been a fan of the Olympics and multi-sport games since she was little.
She remembers the Commonwealth Games being in Edmonton in 1978 when she was five and the torch relay for the Calgary Olympic Winter Games in 1988.
“I remember the torch coming through St. Albert, where I grew up, on it’s way to the ’88 Olympics and it being freezing cold. Most of the other kids from high school went to the mall or whatever, but for me it’s always been important.”
Richard entered to be a torchbearer through icoke.ca by answering daily trivia questions online that went towards a monthly draw.
She then had to write an essay on healthy living before receiving the call in early November that she had been selected to carry the flame.
Richard said she didn’t know where Gleichen was when asked to carry the torch there, but that she would have gone anywhere.
In the end, she was happy to do it in a smaller community and be able to share the experience with her parents, husband, son and father-in-law who were able to run behind her.
“That part of it was really neat because it made the experience a lot more personal and it also helped them to share in the experience.”
When watching the torch pass through Edmonton early, Richard noticed that the road was completely cleared expect for the bearer and six staff members who run alongside.
The community also gathered at the Gleichen community hall afterwards to celebrate and take photos with Richard and the torch.
“The best thing that I did and the thing that really expanded it for me is I went back to the community hall after.”
“When I went to the community hall the people were so friendly and grateful. That was part of the experience that I hadn’t imagined before hand.”
She said people were going home to get their entire families to take picture with her and the torch.