VICTORIA, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - The Olympic torch relay officially started in Victoria, Canada, and will be the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history, a RIA Novosti correspondent has reported.
Triathlon gold medalist Simon Whitfield and speedskating champion Catriona Le May Doan were the first athletes to participate in the relay that kicked off on Friday. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, British Columbian Premier Gordon Campbell, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also carried the torch.
"Not only is the run we are kicking off today going to be the longest torch relay within a single country in Olympic history, when it arrives in Alert, Nunavut, the northernmost tip of our Canadian territory, the Olympic flame will have officially traveled farther north than it has ever been before," Harper said.
The Vancouver mayor received the torch once it arrived in the city from Athens, where it was lit by the rays of the sun.
The flame was brought into the city by four native Indian chiefs rowing a 14-meter long canoe through Victoria's harbor.
In the next 106 days the Olympic flame will be carried by 12,000 torchbearers through all of Canada's provinces and territories. The 28,000-mile trek will take the torch through the most extreme corners of the country by plane, boat, bike, dogsled, skateboard among other modes of transportation, and will reach the northernmost point in its history above the Arctic Circle.
The Olympic Games will be held Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver and Whistler.
