Olympic torch passes historic Halifax Citadel

HALIFAX — When Meg Fraser wrapped her red-mitt-covered hands around the Olympic torch in Halifax on Friday, she knew it was something special.

“I felt like I was the only person in the world doing the most important thing right now,” Fraser said after her run around the foot of the Halifax Citadel – the historic fort that occupies the hill overlooking Halifax Harbour.

And for one knot of huddled fans, she was.

Some of Fraser’s family and friends came out to cheer on the Peggy’s Cove, N.S. area high school student, and it was easy to hear their voices rise above the rest.

“It’s all for Megan,” said 14-year-old Brittany Morash.

“We wouldn’t be standing here freezing (otherwise),” said Heidi Zinck, 15, explaining how the group had to wake up before 4 a.m. to make it to the event.

With flags in hand, Fraser’s entourage put their lungs to work for the torchbearer, getting cars to honk and passing police motorcycles to sound their sirens.

Even Brett Fraser, the runner’s 12-year-old brother, admitted it was pretty cool watching his older sister jog by. But of course, sibling rivalry made him a little reluctant to admit it.

“It’s better than going to school,” he said.

The Olympic torch will leave the Halifax area this morning, with 140 torchbearers as it heads across the province.

After Halifax, the flame will visit communities including Windsor, Kentville, CFB Greenwood, and Bridgewater.

At a midday community celebration in Wolfville, traditional Mi’kmaq dancing and the Port Royal Pipes and Drums band are scheduled to salute the torch.

Later this evening, youth choirs and live bands will welcome the Olympic flame to Lunenburg, where it is scheduled to cross the historic harbour aboard a scallop dragger.

The torch began its journey across Canada on Oct. 30 in Victoria.

The relay, a little more than 100 days in length, will see the torch carried into 1,000 communities, travelling 45,000 kilometres, before it reaches its final destination, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Feb. 12, 2010.