Torch journeys with bobsledder, snowboarder

The Olympic torch has taken an unusual ride in Calgary, travelling at high speeds down a bobsled run and criss-crossing down a half-pipe.

The torch relay event reached Canada Olympic Park, an important venue for the 1988 Winter Games, on Wednesday morning, the third day the torch travelled through the city.

A crowd gathered early in the morning, before the flame arrived, to enjoy a pancake breakfast with a live band.

The torch was not lit when Llewellyn Edwards took it down a bobsled run at about 120 kilometres an hour. It was then lit again, travelled up a chairlift, and was taken down a 22-foot half-pipe by up-and-coming snowboarder Tyler MacRae, who was warned not to travel very fast to ensure the flame wouldn't be extinguished.

Proud moment for torchbearer

Stewart McDonough, who took the torch up the chairlift, called it the proudest moment of his life as a Canadian.

"I ran through the crowd and that was overwhelming, with the people and the cheering, and then to have this serene moment on the chairlift, looking at the mountains, it gave me a chance to reflect," he said.

Bill France, a member of the organizing committee during the 1988 Games, then lit a cauldron at the site with the torch.

"There are so many people here who are just hoping to catch a glimpse of a torch," said CBC News reporter Zulekha Nathoo.

"People are really excited, just because this was one of the main spots for the '88 Olympics and a lot of people are having a chance to kind of relive those memories if they were here at the time."

Earlier this week the torch travelled throughout Calgary and area, making stops at the Olympic Oval and the Olympic Plaza downtown.

The torch relay, on its 83rd day, toured through the neighbourhood of Bowness after leaving Canada Olympic Park and is now headed west toward British Columbia.