Carrying the torch for Parapan Am Games

Anyone 13 or older may apply to bear one of two flames

Members of the public can apply to become 2015 Parapan Am Games torchbearers as part of a contest that launched Tuesday at the CN Tower.

The contest, which closes April19, is open to anyone who will be 13 or older by Aug. 3, members of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee said at a news conference.

“This is an opportunity to be part of history,” Pan Am Games CEO Saad Rafi told reporters.

For the first time, the relay will feature two torches, lit in Niagara Falls and Ottawa on Aug. 3, which will travel separately for three days before uniting in Toronto to complete the final leg of the journey as one flame.

Premier Kathleen Wynne encouraged Ontarians to participate in the festivities. “The torch relay will give people a chance to get into the spirit of the Games in yet another way, to celebrate the community and to share in the pride in hosting this incredible event,” she said.

Often, stories of Parapan Am athletes “overcoming barriers and obstacles” are the most compelling of all, she added.

The relay, spanning more than 700 kilometres and travelling through a dozen Ontario communities, will be the largest ever for a Parapan Am Games, culminating at the competition’s opening ceremony on Aug. 7.

Paralympic swimming champion Chelsey Gottell will be one of the torchbearers.

Gottell, who won medals at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Paralympic Games, said that for athletes, the torch relay is “the calm before the storm.

“You feel that excitement starting to build,” she said. “This is the opportunity where community members get to be involved in something special.”

Gottell said she hopes the Games will give summer athletes in Canada the same spotlight and resources winter athletes received during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

To apply to become a torchbearer go to toronto2015.org/torch-relay.