Fudoshin Aikikai Participates in the 2010 Canadian Olympic Torch Relay

William McDonald (Fudoshin Aikikai)
williammcdonald@nf.sympatico.ca

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay began in Victoria, British Columbia on October 30, 2009 before heading to the Far North, becoming the first relay to bring the Olympic Flame within 900 kilometres of the North Pole through its stop in Alert.

Click here to view photos of the Fudoshin Aikikai member carrying the Olympic Torch

The relay then headed to Wabush/Labrador City on Remembrance Day, November 11, 2009. It travelled 3,120 kilometres by land, water and air in Newfoundland and Labrador and was within a one-hour drive of 67 percent of the province's population. Sheshatshui, only one of two Innu communities in Labrador, played host to the flame, asÊdid Cupids on the island portion of the province, the oldest English colony in Canada which in 2010 will celebrate its 400th anniversary. The relay stopped in the provincial capital of St. John's on November 13th and proceeded across the island to L'Anse aux Meadows, where Leif Erickson and his crew of Viking explorers briefly lived along the rugged coastline more than 1,000 years ago. The torch relay then moved on to Nova Scotia by ferry across the Cabot Strait and continued on its journey to Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay route will have been the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history, stretching 45,000 kilometres within Canada. Upon its conclusion, the Olympic Flame will have been welcomed in 1,020 communities and places of interest or passed within a one-hour drive from nearby cities and towns, making it accessible to more than 90 percent of the Canadian population.

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, which began its 106-day Canadian journey on October 30, 2009 will culminate on February 12, 2010 when it arrives in Vancouver for the Opening Ceremony before a global viewing audience of billions.

Tony Cumby of Fudoshin Aikikai in St. John's, Newfoundland was chosen to be one of the torchbearers in the capital city of Newfoundland and Labrador. Members of Fudoshin Aikikai are extremely proud of Tony and celebrate with him in this memorable event.