he 2010 Vancouver Olympics plans to put Canada on the map by achieving a record for the longest torch relay in one country in Olympic history. The journey within Canada will take 100 days and travel over 35,000 km by foot, dog sled, snowmobile, horse, and plane.

The ambitious trek is one way that the Vancouver Olympic Committee (Vanoc) aims to bring the Olympics to the minds of as many Canadians as possible. The torch will be heading to as many towns across the country, traveling from coast to coast and north to south. Dubbed “a path of northern lights” by organizers of the event – a moniker that’s only slightly cheesy – the relay aims to draw from that of its Calagarian predecessor in 1988, when the torch traveled from northern Inuvik (I’m shivering just thinking about it) down to Vancouver and eastbound to its final destination. That relay – now two decades in the past – was a mere 18,000 km, or half as long as the 2010 sojourn will be.

The torch relay has a budget of $31 million (ouch!), which will be footed by Coca Cola and RBC. Coke –arguably one of the foremost companies responsible for promoting obesity amongst children and adults alike – has ironically been a sponsor of Olympic relays since 1996, despite the fact that their product delivers nothing but useless calories in the form of refined sugar. Meanwhile, RBC has already committed $110 million to the Games – and you wonder why your interest rates are so high! Vanoc states that these companies experience with marketing and logistics of the complex relays were the main reasons they were chosen, although I’m sure their deep pockets helped as well. They also assure that the companies won’t be aggressively plugging their wares during the fiery marathon, although most of us will believe that when we see it.

Coke will be choosing 1,000 participants to help carry the torch from their Torch leadership Program, which was intended to promote active living and erase the image from people’s minds that Coke is associated with bad health (it isn’t exactly milk, though, am I right?) In addition, RBC will also be choosing a large number of people from its pool to have the honor of holding the torch, but Vanoc states that they will be encouraging participation and involvement of those in the communities the torches cross through. The itinerary of the torch will be released sometime in fall 2008.

So, dust off your old runners and start training because you might have the chance to hold the revered Olympic torch as it makes its way across our wonderful country. No doping though!