By Staff
December 17, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington is being considered a major celebration community for the Pan Am Torch Relay, and has asked its citizens to help choose a local resident to carry the Pan Am flame on behalf of the city when the torch relay comes to Burlington next year.
The Burlington Pan Am Community Engagement Committee accepted applications and nominations until December 14th.
The public is now being asked vote on a short list of names selected by the committee. Torchbearer finalists are, in alphabetical order:
Kelly Arnott
Jaden Bailey
Chris Chandler
Dana Cooke
Oubaida Ikharbine
Dawn Izzard
Kaitlin Jones
Sonia Reynolds
Adam Smith
Alicia Thomson
Ashley Worobec
Eric Xu
There is something either ironic or fitting that Kelly Arnott be on the finalist list. Ms Arnott runs some of the most successful races in Ontario. Just last week she held the Santa Claus run which brought hundreds of Santa Claus clad runner streaming through the city.
Residents are invited to vote for Burlington’s community torch bearer.
“The person with the most votes will become the community torch bearer to run for Burlington when the flame comes to the city during the Pan Am torch relay.” said Alan Magi Executive Director of Capital Projects for the city.
Voting will close on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. The selected torch bearer will be notified in mid-January.
The relay begins in May 2015 with the traditional Aztec lighting ceremony at the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico.
The Canadian journey for the flame starts with its arrival in Toronto on May 30, 2015. It will then visit five cities in Canada, as well as 130 communities across Ontario.
You’re welcome, Helene. If you click on a name, you’ll find a short bio.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thank you Shannon for posting the short list for torchbearer.
The info is a bit tricky to find on the city site (as usual), but bios can be found here: https://cms.burlington.ca/Page14733.aspx#.VJmn0l4AKA
I have tried to find another site where there is a brief bio of each of the nominees and/or their letter of application. No sign of such as yet. It is impossible to vote without knowing something about the candidates. Can anyone direct me to this?
Editor’s note:
We will see what we can dig out from city hall on Monday.
I saw the Santa Race and was thrilled to see so many wonderful, happy people coming to the downtown core to spend the morning. Mr. Bean, if you scroll through the web site, you’ll see the two charities, Communtiy Living Burlington and St. John Ambulance were the charities for this event. We should all be proud of the hard work that Kelly does for the community and the platform that she and VR Pro offer for people of all ages and abilities can be active.
Vote page does not work. I see Kelly Arnotts name on the list. Still trying to find out what charity her Santa run supports and how much money goes to any charity.
“Hundreds” of Santas? Try, nearly 3000, (and I was one of them!) Kelly Arnott would make a perfect torch bearer.