Parapan Am Games torch starts its day at McMaster

parapanam-large

BY Wade Hemsworth

August 4, 2015

McMaster was the starting point for the Parapan Am Games Torch Relay’s second day on its journey through Niagara, Hamilton and the GTA, when a member of Canada’s wheelchair rugby team, Joe Boudreau, carried it.

A 10 a.m. ceremony on Aug. 4 started the torch on its way just outside the David Braley Sport Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre, and included remarks by McMaster’s Director of Athletics and Recreation Glen Grunwald.

 

“We are very excited to celebrate the Parapan Am Torch Relay in our athletic centre,” Grunwald says. “Torch bearer Joe Boudreau has been very involved at the David Braley Sport Medicine & Rehabilitation Centre, and is a great example for the Hamilton and McMaster community. ”

The torch, one of two that will converge in Toronto after following routes through eastern and western Ontario, started its McMaster turn in the hands of Boudreau, who took the torch through the David Braley Athletic Centre and out to the track, where he passed it to Gary Saxon, president of Ontario Visually Impaired Golfers, who will carry the Parapan Am flame while riding on a tandem bicycle.

The torch’s start at the sport medicine and rehabilitation centre aligns with the role of the clinic, which serves several athletes who will be competing in the Parapan Am Games.

The Parapan Am Games will open Friday Aug. 7.