Electric Snowmobile Carries Olympic Torch

An electric snowmobile developed by McGill University carried Olympian Julia Murray in the Olympic torch relay.

Murray, a Ski Cross athlete, had undergone surgery shortly before she was to ski her portion of the relay. Instead, she got to ride the electric snowmobile before handing off to Canadian skiing legend Steve Podborski.

The snowmobile was built by McGill’s Faculty of Engineering in Montreal, Quebec. Simon Ouellette, who helped in the development of the snowmobile, was also involved in organizing its part in the torch relay.

“Personally I was nervous about the relay,” says Ouellette. “I kept thinking ‘what if for some reason the snowmobile has a technical problem?’ We did 3 trial runs on the previous day and everything went well. So that calmed me down a bit. However on the day of, it was just crazy to see how many people were there waiting for the flame. There were 10 000 people waiting for the flame!!! I walked through part of the crowd and it was amazing to feel their excitement and hear their genuine enthusiasm.”

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