22 September 2008
Protesters Fail to Derail Children's Olympic Spirit
Protester near Spirit Train in Port
Moody.
Port Moody British Columbia - There was a worried look on
the face of Thomas Black as he careened along a small track on a luge sled before coming to a crashing stop.
"I was a little nervous and I had to tell myself to be calm," Thomas said, describing his thoughts before his quick trip.
But Thomas is no Olympian - not yet, anyway.
The 9-year-old was among the scores of people who came out to experience the Olympics for a day in Port Moody, the
starting point of a cross-Canada tour of the 2010 Spirit Train.
The Canadian Pacific Railway train visits 10 communities on its trek across the country, bringing a miniature Olympic village for
Canadians to experience the Olympic spirit in advance of the 2010 Winter Games.
Set up like a circus tent, the mini-village includes activities like a luge start and a ski jump photo shoot.
Kids and adults alike can hear the swooshing sound of a skier racing through slaloms on the ski hill, check out some Olympic history,
and meet the Olympic mascots Sumi, Quatchi, and Miga, who will join the tour.
Yesterday's debut also brought out about 40 protesters who drowned out the sound from the stage, chanting slogans about housing and
native land.
They were confined to an area in front of the stage but later moved toward the tents, bringing the police along with them.
Inside the main tent yesterday, 8-year-old Lydia Querengesser sat in the narrow seat on the hockey sledge, attempting to
fire a puck into the net.
Sledge hockey athletes use both ends of their two small sticks - one side to propel themselves as fast as ice hockey players and the
other to shoot the puck. "It's really tough to push yourself with the hockey sticks. The sledge is hard to sit in because it's
kind of hard to put your feet in the sled. I couldn't imagine doing that on ice," Lydia said, adding she is excited about her
Olympics sneak preview. "I like learning about history and the Olympics is a great way to learn it."
The tour began in Port Moody and will make a brief two-hour stop in Revelstoke before heading to Calgary
27 Sep 2008.
It then makes its way across Canada until it reaches Montreal on 18 Oct 2008.
More information can be found at www.cpSpiritTrain.com.
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