Canada: Olympic flame warms up first venue

Whistler, Feb 6: With just a week to go for the 2010 Winter Olympics begin, the Olympic flame arrived here warming up the snow covered British Columbia town.

The flame which landed in the ski resort of Whistler amid celebrations was passed from skicross athlete Julia Murray to former World Cup and Olympic downhill ski racer Steve Podborski.

Whistler is the first Olympic venue stop for the torch relay.

"After seven years of hard work, we"re ready," Mayor Ken Melamed said.

The flame has been on a cross-country relay since 106 days. The relay will end on Friday, Feb 12, when the torch will be used to light a the Olympic cauldron in Vancouver.

OneIndia News