Torch to detour around Calgary sinkhole
The cross-Canada torch relay will reach Calgary on Jan. 18, the first time the torch has been in the city since it hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988.
The glitch in the route happens the next day, Jan. 19, when the torch is set to tour through the neighbourhood of Crescent Heights.
First Street N.E. has been completely blocked off since November between Fifth and Sixth Avenues due to a sinkhole. The hole in the street is next to a construction site where the city is building a new emergency operations centre.
The city has been in touch with relay organizers about the problem and will put the new route on its website this week, said Trish Neufeld, a superintendent with event services with the city.
The Crescent Heights community association president said it's strange the problem wasn't noticed earlier, but he is pleased the torch is returning to his neighbourhood.
"I think it's quite exciting. We saw it in '88 when it came by at the other end of the block," said John McDermid. "It was fun to go out and watch."
The torch relay starts in Calgary just after 4 p.m. on Jan. 18. It will travel north on Macleod Trail then loop around downtown via 17th Avenue S.W., 14 Street S.W., and Ninth Avenue S.W. before arriving at Olympic Plaza at 7 p.m.
A free, family event will run that day at the plaza from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Scheduled to perform are singers Terri Clark and Crystal Plamondon. Among the Olympic athletes attending will be three-time medallist speed skater Susan Auch and gold medal skeleton racer Duff Gibson.
The next day the torch will travel from downtown through parts of northwest Calgary.
Auch will skate with the torch in the Olympic Oval at 9 a.m., then the relay will head to northeast and southeast Calgary before touring some of the communities outside the city. Detailed maps of the route are available on the Vancouver 2010 website.