TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Tales from the trail
of the torchCarrying a torch is hardly a melancholy thing when the torch contains a flame ignited in Greece -- and it's on its way to illuminate the beginning of the Winter Olympics.
Victor Lim is downright jubilant when he talks about his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as a runner in the Olympic Torch Relay.
The East Honolulu resident is the owner-operator of the seven McDonald's restaurants in Fort Street Mall, Queen Street, Dole Cannery, Ala Moana Center, Enchanted Lake, Kailua and Waimanalo. He was one of only five franchisees from around the country invited to take part and was selected at a meeting of the national McDonald's operators advertising group.
In addition to Lim, Hilo restaurant manager Stan Shigeishi and Kahului store crewmember Paul Tengan were also selected to participate in different California communities; Shigeishi as a support runner and Tengan, a Maui High School senior, as a torch-bearer.
"When I first got it, I thought, 'Oh this is only a torch run, this is nothing special,'" Lim said. "But the more you think about it and the more you talk to the people involved it's a big thing. It's a huge thing. You get more serious when you realize how much significance there is in the role you're playing."
The national sponsors of the torch relay are Chevrolet and Coca-Cola, Lim said, "and Coke, of course, is a big supporter of McDonald's because we sell, I think we sell more Coke than anyone outside Coke."
The company paid his way to Los Angeles where on Jan. 15 he ran the designated 0.2 miles near the Coliseum. Less than three hours before the torch was to pass through the neighborhood "it was dead-looking," he said, but by the time of his run at 3:15 p.m. "there were lots of people on the sidewalks watching, and cheering -- it was a wonderful feeling."
A walker, not a jogger, Lim said the run was "not that hard," but added, "the excitement makes it much more difficult.
"The torch itself weighs three pounds and as you're running you're holding it up high cause that's how you're supposed to carry it. Halfway through the three pounds feels like 30 pounds and your heart is pumping," Lim said.
When he passed his flame on Lim was surrounded by autograph-seeking children and others who'd been lining the sidewalks "as if I'm a celebrity -- they didn't know I'm just a hamburger salesman."
Coca-Cola bought Lim the torch he carried as a memento of the experience. It bears the Winter Olympics theme, "Light the fire within."
He said, "If you think about it that is so much about the Olympic spirit."
He equates the words to those he uses with his employees.
"I tell them to motivate yourself and become something special. I encourage them to excel."
Salt Lake 2002 Olympics
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com