DAWSON CITY, YUKON, CANADA
2007 Canada Winter Games Pan Northern Torch Relay
January 27, 2007
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The Yukon News - Friday February 2, 2007
Shane Wilson photo
BEARER OF THE FLAME... Mo Caley-Verdonk and her son, Caleb, carry the Yukon torch during the Bear Creek leg of the Dawson City CWG Torch Relay last weekend.
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The Klondike Sun - Wednesday February 14, 2007
Klondike Torch Relay Covers 24 Kilometers and 6 Hours
by Dan Davidson
Shane Wilson photos
It's been a long haul since April 2006, and there were a few confusing bumps along the way, but the Canada Winter Games Torch Relay finally made it to the Klondike on Saturday, January 27, 2007.
Pam Boyde, Torch Relay Chair, said the six hour event was the most ambitious of those staged in any community, involving as it did just about every means of recreational locomotion that the Yukon can boast.
Beginning at Henderson's Corner at 10:30 in the morning the torch bearers covered the 24 kilometres to the river side boat landing are near the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre on Front Street by a variety of methods.
There was a musher and dog sled, skiers, snow mobilers, ski-jorrers, runners and finally, walkers, who took over at the Trans-Canada Trail Head on the dyke at the south end of town.
They reached Rock Creek about 11:45, made it to Bear Creek by 1:15, eased past the Dredge Pond Sub-division at 2:10, and picked up more walkers at the Tr'ondek Subdivision (often known as C-4, after its land claims designation) at 2:45.
The entourage was a little bit late arriving at the trail head, but the walk along the dyke at -26C made up some lost time and the torch party arrived at the river just about on time, to bask in the warmth of a roaring bonfire organized by the Dawson City Fire Department as well as hot chocolate and hotdogs in an unheated wall tent.
(Anyone need forklift pallets in the next little while is out of luck. They were all burned.)
Tr'ondek Hwech'in elders carried the torch the final leg, down the access trail, around the tent and up to the bonfire, followed by Yuka, the Yukon version of the Canada Games Mascot.
Mayor John Steins spoke of his appreciation of the goals behind the games, and informed a slightly skeptical crowd that he had been something of a jock in his high school days.
Pam Boyde braved the cold to deliver a longer speech about the goals and objectives of the games, while artist Shane Wilson captured much of the event on video.
Wilson was also studying his beautifully crafted torch stand carved from an antler, which was, at this point, held together by some transparent duct tape, giving it a real northern flare. He said he was pretty sure he could repair it.
There was to have been a talk at the Robert Service School by Olympic and World Cup Athelete Deidre Dionne, the champion Aerial Skier. Dionne won bronze at the 2002 Olympics and overcame a training accident in September 2005 that injured her neck and nearly paralyzed her. She recovered and was able to participate in the 2006 Olympics.
That kind of determination will take you far, but it won't take you to Dawson when you have a flat between Whitehorse and Carmacks and discover that the car rental ...
Continued on page 10...
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The Klondike Sun - Wednesday February 14, 2007
Klondike Torch Relay Covers 24 Kilometers and 6 Hours
Continued from page 1...
rental agency has sent you out equipped only with a city approved "donut" style spare tire. Dionne and her entourage were unable to get to Dawson.
That mishap aside, one would have to say that the Klondike Torch Relay was a great success, and something that will be remembered for sometime to come.
(Captions: The torch was damaged during its Dawson stay and is seen here held together with transparent duct tape. Mayor John Steins addresses the crowd. About 50 people gathered at the riverside bonfire to greet the torch and Yukon, the Games mascot. Young people carried the torch along the dyke.)
(112 images)
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