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• Olympic torch

	Bob Piers shares the Olympic torch with some of the people in the front row after lighting the cauldron Tuesday night in Victoria Park. Thousands turned out to be a part of history as the torch comes through Colchester County.

TRURO – The Olympic torch was passed from hand to hand while warming people’s soul in central Colchester County Tuesday night.
Distinguished athlete and well-respected coach Bob Piers ran the last leg and lit the cauldron. After the ceremony, while getting a picture in front of the cauldron, he allowed many people in the front rows an opportunity to touch his unlit torch.
He said it was special to be able to share that moment with a community he loves so much.
“It’s wonderful that it means so much to everybody,” he told the Truro Daily News. “The Olympics and the Olympic spirit is alive here in Truro.”
A festive atmosphere rained down on Victoria Park as thousands came to downtown Truro to be apart of history.
As Piers arrived on stage, his Cobequid Cougars girls’ volleyball team shouted out, ‘I love you Piers.’ Piers pushes his players daily to be better, and not just as athletes, but as people. As he went through the crowd, former players and their parents cheered him on.
“The crowd, that was special,” he said moments after lighting the cauldron.
Sportsnet’s Arash Madani helped MC the event. The Truro native remembers when
the torch came through the town prior to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. His Grade 3 class went to the Provincial Normal College for the ceremony.
“It was a pretty powerful night and a pretty powerful moment,” he recalled. “And now, 20 years later, to be here with the Olympics on home soil, it’s tremendous.”
The former Truro Daily News reporter said the torch has a unifying touch.
“It’s amazing when you combine athletics, nationalism and the Maple Leaf together what it can do to bring all these people together,” he said.
Cole Harbour native Tasha White said running with the torch was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I actually can’t even remember all of it because it just goes by so fast,” she said. “I wish I could have run farther.”
While rain was in the forecast for last evening, it never materialized. Piers said organizers told him Mother Nature has been very good to the torch as it passes through communities on its way to Vancouver.
“Maybe that’s a sign that somebody up there is looking after this torch relay,” Piers said.

jmalloy@trurodaily.com