Local resident excited about second chance with Olympic flame

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Yarmouth County resident Malcolm Madden remembers that cold fall day in 1987. The one-kilometre run started out on a steep hill in Halifax. The suit that had arrived for him was the wrong one, but there was no time to switch it for another so he was told to wear it anyway.

Little did he know that 22 years later he’d get the chance to do it again. Maybe that wrong suit was a right sign of things to come.

On Friday, Nov. 20, Madden will get to run with the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics flame when he participates in the Olympic Torch Relay. He, like many Canadians, have gotten the change to participate in the torch relay through participation in an online contest sponsored by Coca-Cola, one of the sponsors of the upcoming Winter Games.

Despite the fact the torch relay route lists Yarmouth on its itinerary on Nov. 19, Madden will be doing the torch relay the following afternoon in Kingston, which was the span selected for him.

For Madden, participating in the torch relay is a do-over of sorts.

In the fall of 1987 Madden took part in the Olympic torch run for the upcoming 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. At the time he was a Petro-Canada dealer and Petro-Canada was one of the relay sponsors. So because he was a dealer, that conflict meant he could only accompany the torchbearer for that one-kilometre run. He could carry the torch itself.

The style of tracksuit he was supposed to wear was the one worn by people who accompanied the torchbearer. But when his suit arrived, it turned out to be the suit worn by the torchbearers themselves.

He still has that suit (and proudly adds that it still fits.)

This time around Madden will only have to run 300 metres with the flame, but that’s 300 metres more than he got to run holding it the last time. “I picture myself having the biggest smile,” he says. Madden – an Argyle councillor –travelled to Whistler, B.C. in June for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ annual conference. While there he got to see some of the Olympics venues, like the ski jump and the bobsled run, and says that’s heightened his excitement for the upcoming games.

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will carry the torch through more than 1,000 communities across Canada. The 45,000-kilometre route is the longest domestic route in Olympic history.

Madden isn’t the only person from Yarmouth County who will get to run with the torch on parts of the route. But he calls his run a bit of unfinished business.

In the essay he submitted for his chance to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay he called his submission: Tango with the Torch, Take 2.