Going for the Orange in the Torch Relay

This is what it will take to run the Olympic flame though Orange County on Sunday: 15,000 cups of strong coffee, dozens of sleepless Girl Scouts, hundreds of sun-kissed surfers.

And that’s just before 5 a.m.

Throughout Orange County, city officials, volunteers and others are racing to complete last-minute preparations for the Olympic torch relay, which begins today at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Sunday, the flame will enter Orange County about 3 a.m. in Seal Beach, travel along Pacific Coast Highway to San Clemente and exit to San Diego County about noon.

“We could have 7,000 to 8,000 people [in Dana Point]--it’s gonna be mad,” said a charged Ron Sobel, owner of Daddy-O’s Bicycle Cafe along the relay route.

The relay, through 42 states, will end in Atlanta on July 19 for the opening ceremony of the Centennial Olympic Games. For 84 days, 10,000 handpicked torchbearers will pass the flame--lit by sun rays in ancient Olympia, Greece--from torch to torch.

Each person will run about one kilometer, a little more than half a mile, carrying a 3 1/2-pound torch made of Georgia pecan wood. (Available for purchase by torchbearers for $275).

Nationwide, communities are throwing Olympic torch parties with local twists: Hotels on the Las Vegas Strip will blink their lights as torchbearers pass by; Kingman, Ariz., plans a ‘50s-style midnight pajama party with bed races; Wetumpka, Ala., will welcome the flame with a horse-drawn chariot filled with flowers and Greek art.

And in Orange County, there will be a surfboard honor guard.

At 5 a.m., about 200 surfers will form a corridor at Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street to welcome the torchbearer’s run into Huntington Beach, where the flame is scheduled to make the first official stop of its 15,000-mile journey.

“Bring your surfboards and salute the torch from Surf City,” urged Ann Beasley, director of the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach.

Along Pacific Coast Highway to San Clemente, other celebrations will involve marching bands, cheerleaders and flag-waving schoolchildren. In some cities, neighbors are organizing all-night parties and last-minute cheering squads.

Seal Beach torchbearer Sean S. Stewart, 35, is so excited by all the hoopla that he sometimes awakens at 4 a.m., picturing the big day. That morning, he will put on his official Olympics-issued white shorts, T-shirt and socks. And then Stewart, a quadriplegic, will roll off into the darkness, the torch at his side in a special holder made for his wheelchair.

“I’m going to savor every second, every meter of this run,” said Stewart, a psychotherapist. “Besides my marriage and children, this is the highlight of my life. . . . It’s just pure joy.”

Plans for the flame’s arrival began in November by a 60-member committee of countywide volunteers.

The committee’s checklist is daunting: What if the flame goes out? (Spare lanterns will carry flames from Greece).

What if no one shows up when the flame hits Seal Beach in the wee hours? (Local Girl Scout troops are pulling an all-nighter to ensure a welcome brigade).

What if the flame doesn’t get to that particular “Litter Removal” sign on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach at 4:23 a.m. as scheduled? (Torchbearer cyclists in San Diego County are expected to make up for any lost time).

“It’ll stop at the Huntington Beach Pier not at 5 o’clock, but at 4:59,” noted Jeff Urbaniec, an organizer with the United Way of Orange County. “I think that’s [Atlanta officials’] way of saying they’re going to be very succinct.”

Preparations for the pier party will begin tonight when the Kiwanis Club sets up for 15,000 breakfasts. At 2 a.m., volunteers will start selling coffee, chocolate chip cookies, apples and other snacks, but no one’s sure if that’s enough or overkill.

“We have no feel for how many people will be there,” conceded Huntington Beach spokesman Richard Barnard.

About midnight, an advance caravan will roll into the city, complete with a huge stage and video wall. The pier ceremony will include video footage of the flame-lighting in Greece, Olympic theme music by the Fountain Valley High School Band and a presentation by Hillary Hansen, director of the national torch relay.

Down the coast, Laguna Beach will also put its own spin on the torch festivities, via the Pageant of the Masters, which produces a summer stage show that re-creates works of art with live models.

Near Main Beach Park, the pageant will set up an 8-foot-wide replica of a 1996 gold Olympic coin, with a cast member posing as a torchbearer, in gold clothes and gold makeup.

“We wanted to add to the town celebration,” said Diane Challis, the pageant’s director.

Other celebrations along the route will be grass-roots affairs.

At the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, 200 members decked out in red, white and blue will run alongside torchbearers, cheering them on.

In Dana Point, schoolchildren from John Malcom Elementary School will wave a giant congratulatory banner made of three bedsheets and signed by each student and staff member.

And in the Newport Beach community of Lido Sands, ex-Olympian Eric Lindroth will walk with his former neighbors to a spot along the route before heading to San Clemente for his own torchbearer stint at 11:30 a.m. Lindroth, 44, was a bronze medalist in the ’72 Munich Games with the U.S. water polo team.

Neighbor Shirley Reinker, 54, organized the community walk after reading about the torch relay in the newspaper.

“It’s so patriotic,” said Reinker, who plans to be in place by 6:15 a.m. with her camera. “It’s just part of being an American. . . . This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Officials advise spectators to stake out a spot early but warn that the relay could run as much as two hours behind schedule.

A 40-member support caravan will tail the relay, with a California Highway Patrol escort of six motorcycles and two patrol cars. No streets or highways along the route will be closed, except for Pacific Coast Highway near the Huntington Beach Pier, between 1st and 6th streets, from midnight to 7 a.m.

“Anticipate a lot of pedestrian traffic, anticipate slow vehicles,” CHP Lt. L.D. Davis said. “I can envision a lot of people--this mass of humanity.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Torch Tour

The Olympic torch relay will reach Orange County on Sunday, the second day of its 84-day journey across the United States to Atlanta. After a one-hour stop in Huntington Beach, it will continue through the county. Here is the route and arrival times along the way:

3:16 a.m.: Enter Orange County on Pacific Coast Highway

****

Seal Beach

3:22: Main Street and Bolsa Avenue

3:27: Seal Beach Boulevard

****

Sunset Beach

3:48: 22nd Street

3:52: Broadway

****

Huntington Beach

3:59: Warner Avenue

4:45: Golden West Street

4:50: 17th Street

4:59: Main Street

5:00: One-hour layover at pier

6:00: Run restarts

6:11: Beach Boulevard

6:17: Newland Street

6:23: Magnolia Street

6:30: Brookhurst Street

****

Newport Beach

6:35: Enter city over river jetty

6:40: Orange Street

6:49: Superior Avenue/Balboa Boulevard

6:56: Under Newport Boulevard

7:07: Balboa Bay Club

7:16: Bayside Drive

7:24: Jamboree Road

7:32: Newport Center Drive

7:36: MacArthur Boulevard

7:43: Marguerite Avenue

****

Unincorporated

8:01: Newport Coast Drive

8:14: Sand Canyon Avenue

****

Laguna Beach

8:33: Irvine Cove

8:40: Smithcliffs Road

8:50: Myrtle Street

8:55: Broadway

9:02: Thalia Street

9:11: Diamond Street

9:26: Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park

9:46: Seacliff Drive

****

Dana Point

10:02: Monarch Bay Drive

10:18: Selva Road

10:30: Street of the Golden Lantern

10:38: Dana Point Harbor Drive

11:11: Camino Capistrano

****

San Clemente

11:23: Ole Hanson Beach Club

11:31: El Portal

11:42: Avenida Barcelona

11:54: Avenida San Luis Rey

11:59: Leaves Orange County

Source: Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Torch Relay Tidbits

Before the Olympics in ancient Greece, a truce was called so runners could travel through the country issuing a call to join the Games. The first torch relay took place in 1936, when the journey ran from Olympia to Berlin. Relays have preceded each Olympics since then. Some other information:

* Length of trip across U.S.: 15,000 miles

* Elapsed time: 84 days

* Number of torchbearers: About 10,000

* Number from Southern California: 225

* Distance each torchbearer runs: 1 kilometer (.6 miles)*

* Number of states covered in journey: 42 plus District of Columbia

* Average speed: 14 mph

* The torch will also be carried on some stretches by bicycle, train, horseback, canoe, steamboat, sailboat and plane

Source: Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games