When Carol Sobkow-Alloway thinks about carrying the Olympic torch through the streets of St. Albert next month, she can’t help but get a lump in her throat.
Sobkow-Alloway is one of thousands of Canadians who dreamed of carrying the Olympic torch through their country, and decided to throw their name into the hat to become a torchbearer for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games in February.
Needless to say, Sobkow-Alloway was hysterical, and has already started giving out mittens to her family and friends who will be watching her carry the Olympic flame for 300 metres near the south entrance to St. Albert at 4:02 p.m. on Jan.13.
“I really do get emotional every time I think about it. I know I’m going to be crying the whole entire time,” said Sobkow-Alloway, who’s lived in St. Albert since 1992. “I can’t stand it, I’m ecstatic. I am going to drag it out for as long as I possibly can. I want to relish and cherish that moment forever.”
The city is expecting to have up to 20 torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame through St. Albert next month, but nothing has been set in stone.
So far only two people have publicly come forward to identify themselves as official St. Albert torchbearers — Sobkow-Alloway and Heather Gardiner, who caught the Olympic fever while working at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary before moving to St. Albert in 2008.
City officials are still waiting to receive an official list of torchbearers from the Vancouver Olympic Committee, but decided to take matters into their own hands to crack the secret wide open.
The city is urging participants to come forward and collect 250 free postcards to promote their run.
The postcards will feature a photo of the torchbearer amongst St. Albert landscape, which can be handed out to their family and friends to promote where they are going to be on the day of the torch relay.
So far, many St. Albert residents who are carrying the torch in another community have come forward, such as Diane Ingle, who will be running Jan. 15 in Stony Plain.
“It’s a big honour to be able to do something like this,” said Ingle, who plans to purchase her torch and put it on display at Ashmont Elementary where she works as a teacher’s aide.
“I am proud of the Canadian athletes. It’s something I’ll never be, but just to be a small part of the Olympics is very exciting and a privilege.”
The torch will pass through Sturgeon County and St. Albert around 3:45 p.m. before heading off to the legislature for an overnight stay in Edmonton.
A few community celebrations for the torch’s debut will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Albert Place and in the downtown parks area.
The celebration will include free hotdogs and hot chocolate, horse-drawn wagon rides, road hockey and skills stations with the St. Albert Steel, along with several other winter sports demonstrations, interactive games and art activities.
For Sobkow-Alloway, carrying the Olympic flame through her community represents peace and unity throughout the world.
“We can come together for these couple of weeks and have something really positive going on globally,” she said, reflecting on her relatives who came to Canada from eastern Europe, including her 94-year-old mother, who also applied to be a torchbearer.
“I think I carry the torch for all of them and all our freedoms we have in this great country.”
The Olympic torch relay began its lengthy 45,000-kilometre journey across Canada Oct. 30 at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canada Highway in Victoria, B.C.
So far it has made its way through the far north to the eastern shores of Cape Spear near St. John’s, and is currently en route to the Toronto area.
For more information about St. Albert’s torchbearers visit www.stalbert.ca/torchbearers.
