Day 1 - Cape Spear, NL to St. John's NL

WOW! What an incredible day! Day 1 of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay is officially in the books! We were up early this morning...well early for me anyway (6am) and in Cape Spear by 7:30am where the Start of Day stage, video board, news trucks, and several technicians and production folks had already been hard at work for hours. The weather was overcast, windy, and very cool. We even had a few light raindrops fall, but nothing could dampen the spirits of everyone who has looked forward to this day for so long.

With Ainsley and Heather getting all the final set up stuff organized

The day began with some videos playing of Rick's original Man In Motion World Tour as the public arrived on shuttles from downtown. When the official program started, the crowd was fairly intimate but what theu lacked in numbers, they more than made up for in energy and enthusiasm. You could tell that they knew they were going to be a part of history in the making. Short speeches by local and provincial politicians as well as some local folks from the original tour were interspersed with great performaces by a young group of Irish Dancers and a performance by the Irish Descendants, a very talented, well known, and award winning Newfoundland band. The Man In Motion himself, Rick Hansen, then took to the microphone and gave an inspirational send off before wheeling off stage and passing the Rick Hansen Medal to the first Medal-Bearer of the day, a young man of 14 years named Jacob from right here in St. John's.

Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkMfUJdX53E&feature=player_embedded


My role on the Relay today was to ride the mountain bike which has been affectionately named "Misty". As one of two Misty riders, it is my job to ride ahead and brief the Medal-Bearers just before their big moment to carry the Medal. Some are very relaxed, others are quite excited, and some are very nervous that they will forget something or mess something up. Really, its pretty fool proof, and it was my job today to ensure they felt as relaxed, comfortable, and as knowledgeable as possible before their big moment. It was a GORGEOUS SUNNY day from the instant we left Cape Spear. We were very fortunate to have such a fabulous day to kick things off. I ended up riding Misty every kilometre that we covered today including some pretty decent hills coming out of Cape Spear. All told, we covered just over 25km today and had 56 Medal-Bearers carry the Medal. I think it is pretty safe to say that I had one of the best jobs going today. I got to be outside, riding a bike on a beautiful sunny day, and meet 56 super cool, amazing Difference Makers, watching them all have the time of their lives....and I get to do it all over again tomorrow (although in a different role).

                                         (Steph, Josh, PARKA (Parks Canada Beaver), Yours truly
                                                                 SONNY DAVIS (Our Endurance Team Member)

Day 1 ended with a short End of Day ceremony at MUN (Memorial University of Newfoundland) where  all the Medal-Bearers were invited to attend, meet Rick and have pictures taken. Some even had Rick autograph their Nike Uniform Jackets (Yes, each Medal-Bearer is presented with a fabulous Nike Running Jacket and pants and a touque to wear during their segment. (touques optional today!)

Well, its 12:44am now and I NEED to get some sleep before another full day tomorrow so sorry, no time to post pictures today. I promise to load some up when I get some more time.

Until tomorrow....

Jonesy