The Games may not be until February, but McMaster is already seeing its fair share of Olympic action.

University alumnus and president of the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club Cyril Leeder took part in the Ottawa leg of the Olympic torch relay Monday, running 300 metres down the city's King Edward Avenue, and three-time Olympic medalist and McMaster graduate Adam van Koeverden will take the torch down Oakville's Sixteen Mile Creek by kayak on Saturday.

As the torch continues its trek through Ontario it will also be helped along by McMaster staff, students and faculty.

Olympic bronze medal-winning rower Melanie Kok will run with the flame in Welland on December 21. Kok, currently working towards her master's degree in McMaster's Integrative Neuroscience Discovery & Study (MiNDS) program, says that she has been a fan of the Olympics since she was a kid.

"I used to rollerblade around my block as many times as I could, convinced I was training for the Games," she said.

For Nathan Butterworth, student liaison officer, carrying the torch is a dream come true. Selected for his dedication to "green" living, Butterworth is ecstatic that he gets to take part in this year's relay.

"I saw my first Olympic torch in 1988," he said, "and I felt such a sense of pride and community."

Alyssa Fenuta, a third year kinesiology student, will run a segment of the relay though the city of Vaughn. The soccer fanatic once told her elementary school classmates that she wanted to play in the 2010 Games.

"I have watched the Olympics every year since I was little," she said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and needless to say I feel honoured and very excited."

Nick Bontis, associate professor in the DeGroote School of Business, will run with the flame starting at Hamilton's Main Street and Kenilworth Avenue on Sunday at 8:13 a.m.