The Countdown is on for Canada’s Games!

The City of Barrie gets ready for 2010 Winter Games excitement and the arrival of the Olympic Flame

Barrie, ON. - The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are just around the corner. With just 365 days remaining before the Games period starts, the City of Barrie is having a countdown of its own: only 320 days until it’s the community’s time to shine when the Olympic Flame arrives!

To mark the occasion of the one-year countdown to the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the City of Barrie showed its support and enthusiasm by volunteering to become a torch community in support of the event.

Before the world sets its eyes on Vancouver and the Whistler region where thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of spectators will join to celebrate, the City of Barrie will light up as one of the 1,020 communities and places of interest the Olympic Flame will visit during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola and RBC and supported by the Government of Canada.

“The City of Barrie is honoured to contribute to this exciting international event. We welcome the Olympic Flame to Barrie on December 29, 2009,” said Mayor Aspden. “On that date, all eyes will be on our community. Our planning for this exciting day is well underway, and we continue to develop ways for residents to come together, celebrate and show our Olympic and Canadian spirit.”

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay is a 106-day celebration that starts in Victoria, British Columbia on October 30, 2009. The Olympic Flame will travel over 45,000 kilometres across Canada making it the longest domestic relay in Olympic history. Over the course of the relay, 12,000 torchbearers will have the opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame. They will largely be selected from the public through programs offered by Coca-Cola and RBC. Residents of Barrie and surrounding area are invited to go to icoke.ca and rbc.com/carrythetorch to submit a torchbearer application for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“One of the most inspiring ways to get involved in the Olympic experience as it sweeps across Canada is to help escort that magnificent Olympic Flame,” said John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “Everyday Canadians have the opportunity to sign up to become Olympic Torchbearers and have the experience of a lifetime.”

As part of the one-year countdown celebrations, on February 12, 2009 the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch, designed and manufactured by Bombardier, and the Olympic Torchbearer uniforms, designed by the Hudson’s Bay Company, were unveiled to the world in Whistler, BC. For more information on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, visit vancouver2010.com/torchrelay.