Step for Step, Canadian Schools Share Passion for Olympic Torch Relay
The Olympic Torch Relay starts on October 30, 2009, but in some Canadian schools, it has already begun. Students at Tomsett Elementary School in Richmond, British Columbia, and those at Cusack Elementary School in Sydney, Nova Scotia are attempting to complete the distance covered by the Olympic Torch Relay Route — 45,000 kilometres — before the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It’s the 18th annual kilometre run at Tomsett Elementary during which all students run a specific route. “Over the years, the students have run across Canada — to Texas, to the North Pole, to Beijing, to Torino and to Hawaii,” said school principal Donna Matheson. The students ran over 25,000 km last year to reach the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
With only months remaining before the start of the Olympic Torch Relay, Tomsett Elementary students will attempt to add as much as mileage possible. Every day the 220 students — from kindergarten to grade 7 — run around a ¼-kilometre track for 15 minutes, for 30 consecutive days. For each completed kilometre, 2 km will be recorded on their map.
“As we are a small school, we need 60 consecutive days to complete 45,000
km, and we don’t have that many school days left,” Matheson explained. However, the school’s goal is to complete as great a distance as possible. “Each time we pass through each town or landmark, we read information over the PA system about the towns we just have passed,” Matheson added.
On the other side of the country
Since January 20, 2009 Cusack Elementary School has been realizing a similar challenge. Students at the school have so far run 3,000 km and hope to complete the 45,000 km before the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. “Beginning on April 27, 2009 we’ll get parents and teachers involved by counting their mileage outside of the school. Soon all students will have pedometers to calculate their kilometres during each school day,” said physical education teacher Leroy Hodder.
At Cusack Elementary, a lap is 50-metres long in the gym so students will need to run over 900,000 laps to complete the total torch relay route. “We run a minimum number of laps and calculate the total for each class, and then those of the entire student body,” Hodder explained. “To include other groups and to increase the mileage covered, we also count the laps run by the basketball and cheerleading teams during their practice.”
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Although Tomsett and Cusack Elementary schools are located on opposite sides of the country, the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay represents a unique chance for them to be actively involved in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
“The torch relay is a very important part of the world’s largest sporting event and it’s happening in our own backyard,” Hodder continued. “It’s an event that the students will witness and remember for the rest of their lives.” Cusack Elementary students have also traced the Olympic Torch Relay Route on in their gym wall.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the students to be involved in a local Olympic event,” Donna Matheson said. “In the past, we have only been able to participate in the Olympic Games from a distance, through television, internet and newspapers. This is giving us all a different perspective since the Games will be held at home in 2010.”
Both schools are very much looking forward to seeing the Olympic Flame pass through their communities. Tomsett and Cusack Elementary schools have embraced the opportunity to participate in the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay in their own way and are showing that the torch relay is accessible to everyone.
