TOFINO, CANADA -- The Olympic flame is ready to travel across Canada.
And Canadians are eager for the chance to see it.
For the select few, though, the chance to carry it will be a particular thrill.
There are two unusual ways the torch will travel.
In communities across Canada... people like Ralph Bruwhiler are practicing their routines to carry a special package.
The Olympic torch is coming soon to Tofino, B.C. and rest of Canada:
"I'll be laying on my board, paddling catch the wave ..."
Most torch bearers will run with it.
Bruwiler will try to be the first ever to surf with it.
Ralph Bruwhiler, the future Torch Bearer says "I just gonna grab the torch of them, keep riding the rest of the way like this "
His wife used to hand off his 18 month old daughter to him the same way... and they'd surf into shore together.
So he says he's had some practice.
"I'm pretty confident, I'm not going to drop it. Hopefully. I mean anything can happen." Bruwhiler says.
Another Tofino torch bearer also has his board in mind -- his skateboard
Scott Rae-Arthuranotehr future torch bearer says "ah, the torch is a little more top heavy than this...."
Scott Rae-Arthur has been practicing with a hockey stick -- but rolling on wheels, with a lit flame could be tricky... so the torch keepers arrived the other week with a real one to try out.
Rae-Arthur says "They gave it a light .. just to see how the flame would come back at me .. if I were going fast or slow, if it was going to burn me haha. DID IT ? It got pretty hot !"
There'll be a big party in this pretty tourist town to celebrate when the torch relay passes through... paid for with
50-thousand dollars of taxpayer money - for Donna Fraser its cash well spent.
Fraser who is the Tofino Torch Coordinator says "I think without community pride you don't have any strength and without strength you can't help other people so for this community, its probably the biggest party we've ever had."
A big party here .. and in a thousand other Canadian communities over the next 106 days.
~Chris Brown, CBC News, Tofino.
