VICTORIA -- The famed Olympic torch relay for the 2010 Winter Olympics got off to a celebratory start here this morning, as first torchbearers Catriona Le May Doan and Simon Whitfield, both Olympic gold medallists, raised together the sleek white torch to the sky in front of large crowds at the provincial legislature, before heading off on the flame's 106-day, cross-country odyssey.

Le May Doan won the 500 metres in long track speed skating at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the 2002 Salt Lake City Games while Whitfield won the Olympic men's triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games.

The two athletes ran a short distance before passing the torch to another pair of Canadian Olympic heroes, diver Alexandre Despatie and rower Silken Laumann. Both Whitfield and Laumann call Victoria home.

Afterwards, Ms. Le May Doan and Mr. Whitfield were still glowing about the experience as they talked to the media.

"It didn't really hit me until we started jogging," said Mr. Whitfield. "It finally dawned on, this is the Olympic torch. To do something beyond the Olympic experience of being an athlete, which can be quite selfish, is very special."

Ms. Le May Doan said she was overwhelmed during the pair's brief jog.

"You go by all these kids, and everyone's cheering. It's for all of Canada, so to be there at the start was absolutely incredible and emotional.

"It's the flame," she said. "It represents everything that sport implies. It's what the Olympic flame is all about."

Laumann, who, like Mr. Whitfield, has lived in Victoria for many years, said she was caught off guard by the emotions of the moment.

"You're standing there, and all of a sudden, you realize the Olympic flame, with all its history and dreams, is coming towards you," Ms. Laumann said. "To be part of that first group in the city I love and live, is really pretty special."

Thousands lined the relay route, many waving Canadian flags, as the four Olympians transferred the flame to other runners, who headed up Government Street, passing in front of the well-known Empress Hotel, to great cheers.

There was heavy security everywhere, including a police helicopter circling overhead and a police boat accompanying the flame into Victoria's inner harbour.

But beyond a scattered yell of protest or two, and several of the city's famous Raging Grannies, one of whom held up a home-made sign reading Olympic Snow Job, there was no sign of opposition to the Games.

Police estimated the crowds massed in front of the legislature at between 5,000 and 7,000 specators.

Rain held off, and at times, the sun peeked out, as ceremonies launching the torch relay went on.

Among those who turned up was 77-year old, retired teacher Ann Shaffer. "I think all things Canadian are important," she explained. "I figure I'll never be as close to an Olympic flame in my life as now."

Philippe Charette wiped tears from his eyes after seeing the torch pass by. "Just to see it right in front of me....it was emotional."

Unlike in Canada's two previous torch relays, the flame will not be carried in a single torch. Each runner will have his or her own torch, and the flame will be ignited between torches at every change-over.

VANOC's recently deceased board chairman Jack Poole was not forgotten during the festivities and ceremonies that took place before the much-anticipated relay began. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson were among the speakers.

After the crowd silently bowed their heads in a moment of silence, Mr. Poole's wife Darlene used a small torch to set the torch relay's community cauldron ablaze although it took some time for both Mrs. Poole and VANOC boss John Furlong to coax the cauldron to catch fire.

VANOC officials are hoping the torch relay will light a celebratory fire in the country, particularly in British Columbia, where polls have found the public increasingly sour about the coming Winter Olympics.

"I think people will begin to realize what it's going to be like," VANOC deputy CEO Dave Cobb told reporters in the hours before the run's launch.

"Up to now, there's been a little bit more caution and concern about the Games in B.C. But I think the mood and the excitement are going to increase and build, as the relay unfolds."

The Olympic torch had arrived on Canadian soil a bit later than its anticipated touchdown shortly after dawn, owing to strong headwinds during its flight from Athens, where it had been entrusted by Greek Olympic officials to John Furlong.

Officials cut short a planned welcoming ceremony at the airport in order to ensure that proceedings went ahead on time at the launch of the relay.

During the long homeward journey aboard a Canadian Forces airbus, the fire had been kept burning inside a small miner's lantern, entrusted for safekeeping to aboriginal flame attendants, Dina Ouelette and Aronhiaies Herne.

Four CF-18 jets roared overhead as the flame - still in its lantern -- made its way by convoy to Victoria's scenic inner harbour, where three native canoes carried it across the water in spectacular fashion to the front of the stately legislature. The songs of the paddlers sounded clearly across the harbour, as they propelled their canoes forward.

The lead canoe contained leaders of the Four Host First Nations, on whose traditional territory the Olympics will take place. As the lead canoe reached the harbour, the sun and blue skies appeared.

They passed the flame lantern to Chief Robert Sam and Chief Andy Thomas of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, respectively, after asking their permission to come ashore.

The two chiefs then slowly made their way with the flame to the huge stage erected in front of the legislature.

By the time the Olympic torch finishes its journey at Vancouver's BC Place stadium on Feb. 12, it will have passed through more than a thousand Canadian communities, including about 115 stops in aboriginal locations, and covered 45,000 kilometres, the longest relay in a single country in Olympic history.

Today, the torch is scheduled to travel 90 kilometres in and around Victoria, before ending the day back where it started, at the legislature for a gala gathering organizers hoped would attract as many as 30,000 people.

From Victoria, the torch heads north on Vancouver Island for the next three days, before heading to the Queen Charlotte Islands, also known as Haida Gwaii.

All told, 12,000 torchbearers will carry the Olympic flame on its journey from coast to coast to coast.