The flame got off to an early start Sunday, leaving Ben Franklin Place at 7:30 a.m. on its way west to Pembroke.

Among the early-morning torchbearers was 1948 Olympic gold-medallist Barbara Ann Scott-King, who finished her 300-metre run on Baseline Road saying "Is that all?"

The 81-year-old said she'd been training for the past two months in her neighbourhood on Amelia Island, Florida.

"I had to have something that was 3-1/2 pounds to practice with," she said. "The only thing I could find was my big long garden shears, and I had to tell my neighbours I wasn't attacking them, that I was only practicing."

Scott-King, who also carried the Olympic flame into the House of Commons on Thursday, said it was an honour to be a torchbearer.

"This is the greatest thrill anyone could have. For a little old lady to be remembered and have the privilege to carry the torch is great."

Her husband Tom King, who waited in a nearby car as friends and fans wished his wife well and snapped photos, noted that their hometown newspaper had been closely following her training regimen.

"She's a big star there," he said.