Young First Nation athletes honoured to carry Olympic torch

A pair of Aboriginal teenagers who attended the same high school in Saskatchewan have been selected as torchbearers for the ongoing Olympic torch
relay.
Cresida Mason and Edward Cook, both Cree, are among the 12,000 Canadians who will be helping to carry the flame across the country in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The torch relay will cover about 45,000 kilometres and will travel to more than 1,000 communities from coast-to-coast.
The 106-day relay, which began in late October, will continue until February 12. It will end at Vancouver's B.C. Place at which point the Olympic Cauldron will be lit, signifying the start of the Winter Games. Both Mason and Cook were selected to take part in the relay through a RBC
torchbearers promotion. The pair had been nominated by Grant Whitstore, Onion
Lake's Director of Recreation.
Mason, 18, is a multi-sport athlete who
graduated from Onion Lake's Eagleview High School this past June. "It's going to
be great and an amazing experience, especially for a Native girl," Mason
said.
She'll get her opportunity to run with the torch on January 12 in North Battleford. Cook will also run his relay segment that day.
All torchbearers across the country get to run approximately 300 metres with the torch.
"I'm pretty honoured and happy to get this chance," said Cook, a 16-year-old who is
in Grade 10 at Eagleview High School.
Elaine Bendel, the RBC manager at the
North Battleford branch, said being a part of the torch relay is undoubtedly a huge honour for the two local teens.
"It's so outstanding to have the chance
to be involved with the Olympics," she said. "That's what stands out for me -
that and the fact they are being a role model in their community."
During her days at Eagleview High School, Mason played for five different school teams; badminton, basketball, softball, track and field and volleyball.
She was selected as the top female athlete in her school while in Grade 11. She's waiting to hear whether she won the same honour in her graduating year.
Though she plays various sports, softball is the sport Mason best excels at. She's been playing softball since the age of six. After getting her introduction to the sport in Onion Lake, Mason spent ten years playing the sport in Lloydminster.
Then in 2008 she suited up for a team in Edmonton. As for this year, she was a member of the Calgary Illusions, a midget A squad. Mason helped the Illusions to a silver-medal performance at their provincial championships this past summer. Mason will start attending Edmonton's Marvel College this coming April. But she plans to continue playing softball as well and hopefully end up participating in the Olympics one day. "That's my goal," she said.
But in order for Mason to maintain this dream, officials with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) must first vote some day to include women's softball in the Olympics again. Women's softball was added to the Olympics in 1996. IOC officials, however, voted back in 2005 to take the sport off their schedule beginning with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The sport was contested at last year's Beijing Olympics. And softball officials from around the globe are hoping the sport will be re-introduced to the Olympics, possibly as early as the 2016 Games. As for Cook, he's concentrated on one sport - track and field - during his high school days thus far. He's participated in a
variety of track and field events.
What he most enjoys is the 100-metre and
200-metre races as well as the long jump. He's also competed in 400-metre races
and the triple jump. Though he's a sprinter, it's unlikely Cook will run his
300-metre segment of the torch relay as fast as he can. "I don't think I'll sprint," he said. "I just want to jog and enjoy it." All torchbearers have the option of purchasing the torch they run with. The cost is about $350 per torch.
Both Mason and Cook consider it a priceless keepsake that they will be
ordering.
"I have no idea where I'll put it," Mason said. "But I'll keep it in Onion Lake so everyone can see it."
As for Cook, he believes he has the perfect spot to display his torch afterwards.
"I'll just keep it in my room and hang it," he said. Cook plans to continue competing in track and field events, possibly even at the university level some day. And he's also considering some career options.
"My dream is to be a guitarist," said Cook,
who took up the musical instrument a few years ago. "But if I don't do that I might go into welding."