The Olympic Torch: you may have missed it if you blinked

Thousands gathered in the light snow and wind in the West Island today to watch Olympic Torch bearers run along with the flame to different city halls in the area after it made a detour to Mont Tremblant yesterday following a celebration in Beaconsfield two nights ago.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we got great pictures," said Patricia Brisebois, a Pointe Claire resident who had come to see the spectacle in the parking lot of that town's city hall on St. John Boulevard.

"We got the biggest turn-out in all of Canada," an announcer on a megaphone triumphantly announced of that location earlier today, as lines of people beyond the horizon stretched out to watch.

Torchbearers in each municipality posed for a fleeting couple of minutes for a quick picture with local officials and athletes before running to the next.

For some, the time was perhaps a little too fleeting.

"It passed by too quickly, we didn't see it," said Raymond Roy, but he added he had gotten a chance to do so at Beaconsfield during its celebration two nights ago.

Many local schools from both Lester B. Pearson and Marguerite Bourgeoys school boards brought their students out in rows on their lunch breaks to watch the torch bearer run by on St. John this afternoon, as police blocked off sections of the road to traffic to let the large Olympic caravan come through.

After Dollard des Ormeaux, Kirkland and Pointe Claire, the torch made its way to Dorval.