Olympic torch makes its way into New Brunswick

SHEDIAC, N.B. — A giant of New Brunswick sport and the pride of the coastal town of Shediac made his way to centre stage once more on Monday as the Olympic torch arrived in New Brunswick, its eighth province on this cross-Canada, 45,000-kilometre journey.

And while they were soft strides, slow and steady, former Canadian marathon champion George Gallant still brought this community to its feet.

Hundreds of New Brunswickers lined streets with flags and noisemakers in hand to catch a glimpse of the flame on a day when the Olympic torch left Prince Edward Island and anchored onto its new home province — at least for the week — on the west side of the Confederation Bridge.

Gallant, now 80, was selected to take the final steps with the torch running through a crowd of thousands of people crammed into a makeshift celebration square in New Brunswick’s first designated celebration town, his hometown of Shediac.

Now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, he basked in the town’s praise with the help of his son.

“This is probably the best honour George could ever get,” said Daniel Gallant. “George has always competed, and wherever he went, he was always proud to say Shediac was his hometown.”

Gallant ran the Boston Marathon five times over a 40-year running career, finishing once as top Canadian.

He won the Dartmouth Road Race seven consecutive years in his heyday and won the Canadian championship in the 50 and over category years after.

His daughter-in-law, Daniel’s wife, Doreen Nowlan received the honour to run the torch through Cap-Pele. She handed it off to Alvin Richard, earlier in the day.

Richard vividly recalled running a lone, dark stretch of highway outside Moncton the last time the Olympic Flame made its way through New Brunswick.

But on Monday, Richard didn’t have to look far to find company in his second tour with the torch: 21 years after acting as a torchbearer for the 1988 Calgary Olympics, his teenage son stood beside him, wearing his dad’s old Calgary Olympic track suit.

“It’s kind of symbolic of my life journey,” Richard said. “I was exactly 14-years-and six-months-old when the Montreal Summer Games in 1976 began.

“That was a big point in my life, and my son is exactly 14-years-and-six-months-old, right now.”

The 47-year-old who works as a nurse at the George Dumont Hospital in Moncton took up marathon running after being inspired by Canadian marathoner Jerome Drayton’s attempt at gold in the long distance event in 1976, but his Olympic connection doesn’t end there.

He named his only son after French-Canadian freestyle mogul skier Jean-Luc Brassard who won a gold medal at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.

“I was watching an interview with him after he won the gold medal and I was just bawling,” Richard said. “His ability to share the Olympic spirit with everyone who was watching on television, it was contagious.

“I turned to my wife and said ‘if ever we have a son we have to name him Jean-Luc.’ ”

Jean-Luc Richard was born one year later.

Father and son paced down the main street in Cap-Pele on Monday where hundreds lined the road to catch a glimpse.

Celebrations in the New Brunswick towns of Port Elgin, Memramcook, Sackville and Dieppe were no different as stellar turnouts were the norm from dawn until dusk.

The festivities reached fever pitch in Moncton as Special Olympian Chris Briggs shot into the new Moncton Stadium on the Universite de Moncton campus, the Olympic flame lighting the way.

Fireworks screamed overhead with Briggs on stage; a show choreographed by the same pyrotechnic experts who put together an AC/DC rock concert bombshell display last summer.

Before entering the stadium, Briggs, who has won numerous medals predominantly in track and field, said the experience was like no other.

“It’s just an unexplainable feeling,” he said. “And it’s just an unbelievable honour.”

The torch began its journey across Canada on Oct. 30 in Victoria and has made its way through the northern tips of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, also making stops in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

It has since zigzagged across Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, making New Brunswick its eighth province.

The relay, a little more than 100 days in length, will see the torch carried into 1,000 communities, before it reaches its final destination, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Feb. 12, 2010.

On Tuesday, the torch is scheduled to traverse a landscape of Acadian forest, rolling hills, deep ravines and waterfalls through Fundy National Park.

The torch will also arrive as hot air balloons lift into the air in Sussex and Saint John provide the backdrop for the day-end celebrations at Cruise Ship Pier.

In the process, 155 torchbearers will bring the flame 238.9 kilometres closer to Vancouver 2010.