The Olympic torch arrives in Manitoba on Tuesday for a four-day tour of the province before continuing its cross-Canada journey to the West Coast.

The flame is on Day 67 of its 106-day relay. It started Monday in Thunder Bay, Ont., and will head to Dryden before setting off for Manitoba.

'This is a great opportunity for Winnipeggers to share in the Olympic experience.'—Kenny Boyce, Olympic torch relay community task force

The public is invited to line the torch relay route to hoot and holler as they celebrate the historic relay, said Kenny Boyce, chair of Winnipeg's Olympic torch relay community task force.

"This is a great opportunity for Winnipeggers to share in the Olympic experience," said Boyce. "The more the merrier. The louder the better."

The torch is expected to arrive at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 5 at the Ed Golding Memorial Arena (517 Pandora Ave. East). It will make its way through the neighbourhoods of Transcona, Elmwood, St. Boniface and the downtown before ending up at The Forks at around 7 p.m. for the Olympic Torch Relay Community Celebration.

The event at The Forks will run from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. and include performances by dancers and musicians as well as a fireworks display.

12,000 torchbearers across Canada

During its cross-Canada trek, the flame will have visited more than 1,000 communities and be carried by 12,000 different torchbearers while covering more than 43,000 kilometres.

About 50 people will carry the torch through Manitoba. One of those is Darren Zembik, the arena manager and ice maker at the St. Andrews Community Club just north of Winnipeg.

Noah Palansky, 13, is introduced in November by Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz as the city's official Olympic torchbearer. (CBC)Zembik said he has been training for his role however he can.

"Every time I run to go flood the ice with the Zamboni, I run back and forth to the Zamboni room," he said.

Zembik was nominated to be a torchbearer by someone on the executive at the St. Andrews Community Club. As a result of the honour, he was allowed to nominate 19 others.

"They were from St. Andrews and the surrounding area, so I chose some family members, some main executive members from the St. Andrews Community Club, who do a lot of work at the club, and some other people that do a lot of volunteer work for hockey," he said.

Zembik and others will each run 300 metres with the Olympic flame through the Steinbach area before the torch arrives at the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Noah Palansky, 13, will have the honour of carrying the torch the final 300 metres to a cauldron at The Forks. The Winnipeg teen was designated the official community torchbearer in November.

The student at the Gray Academy of Jewish Education was chosen because of his commitment to cancer research and care. He began fundraising for CancerCare Manitoba last year after his mother, Naomi, was diagnosed with the disease.

Among the other 50 people carrying the torch through the province is University of Winnipeg president Lloyd Axworthy, who will have it at a location between Kenora and Winnipeg.

Loop through the Interlake

The torch will leave Winnipeg on Jan. 6 and make a loop through the Interlake region before briefly returning to the city on Jan. 7. From there it will make an appearance in 20 other communities south and west of Winnipeg.

It will arrive in the city of Portage la Prairie on Jan. 7 and leave on Jan. 8 when it arrives in Brandon. The last place in Manitoba it will visit is Virden on Jan. 9 before crossing the border into Saskatchewan.

The torch journey began Oct. 30 in Victoria and passed through the northern half of Canada, including Manitoba in early November, before hitting the east coast and turning west once again for a return trip along a southern route.

The relay, a ritual invented for the 1936 Summer Games in Germany, will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Feb. 12.