20 Vancouver Aquarium team members proudly bear the Olympic Torch on October 31st 20099

Vancouver, BC – Media are invited to join Vancouver Aquarium staff, board members and volunteers running in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Torch Relay at Cowichan Aquatic Center in Duncan on Saturday, October 31, 2009.

The Vancouver Aquarium Olympic Torchbearer Team comes from a diverse spectrum of work and personal backgrounds and includes 13 staff, 5 board members, and 2 volunteers of diverse ethnic heritage including Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, German, American and Canadian. These proud torchbearers support the Aquarium in various ways through daily responsibilities at the Aquarium in such areas as animal husbandry, visitor experience and marine mammal rescue, to volunteers who tirelessly give of their time and support.

The 13 Aquarium staff members participating in the Olympic Torch Relay were selected because they received more than five Star Awards given for individual achievements at the Aquarium. The two Aquarium volunteers are known for their leadership and include one youth and one adult volunteer.

Lindsaye Akhurst is one of the outstanding Aquarium staff selected to bear the torch. She is the Coordinator of the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre. Her daily duties involve rescuing and rehabilitating marine mammals in distress ranging from seals to porpoises. Lindsaye is originally from Duncan, a proud graduate of Cowichan Senior Secondary and will be carrying the torch in her own hometown. She says, “I feel like I’m the luckiest member of the Vancouver Aquarium Olympic Torchbearer Team because I am from Duncan. Not many people get to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay let alone carry the torch right in their hometown!”

WHAT: Vancouver Aquarium Torchbearer Team runs in Olympic Torch Relay

WHEN: 12:00pm, Saturday, October 31, 2009

WHERE: Celebration Stage, Cowichan Aquatic Centre, Duncan, BC
Site Map: http://tinyurl.com/ygb5wdm

PHOTO / VIDEO OPPORTUNITY
В§ Aquarium Torchbearers share the torch running experience by exchanging the flame every 50 metres along the total distance of 300 metres

About the Vancouver Aquarium
The Vancouver Aquarium is a global leader in connecting people to our natural world, and a self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, conservation practices, education, research, and direct action.

Learn more at www.vanaqua.org

October 30, 2009   Posted in: Canada