The Luck of Mac Berns

VALLEY NEWS LIVE. COM


The Olympic torch made its way through the streets of London. It passed by some of the city's most historic landmarks including Wembley Stadium and Buckingham Palace.

Friday, the torch finally arrived at Olympic Stadium just in time for the opening ceremony bringing an end to its 70-day, 80,000 mile journey.

The historic run is bringing back memories for a West Fargo man. Mac Berns was one of 11 North Dakotans to take part in the lighting of the flame during the 1996 Summer Olympic games in Atlanta.

This tradition dates back to ancient Greece. Before the games, runners, also known as "heralds of peace" traveled the country as a sacred truce so athletes could compete peacefully at the games.

Centuries later, that ritual was a special moment for Mac Berns -- when he was flown to the Twin Cities to be a part of it.

"I just take the whole thing in. It just brings back memories when this happened. A very positive thing in my life," says Berns. "It was an extreme honor to do so and I felt that."

The iconic Olympic logo , the 20 host cities etched on a gold-plated band, 16 years later, Mac Berns still gets chills when he's holding this bit of history.

"It went by too quick. You have the adrenaline because of the crowd and just the excitement because you're the only one holding the flame at the time," he says.

Mac still laughs at how it all happened. The torch route never made its way through North Dakota, but thanks to a friend who threw in mac's name during a Coca Cola contest, the 19-year-old Bismarck State College grad at the time, had won the gold.

"It was a fluke," he laughs. "I didn't sign up for anything and I won it. I had one chance out of anybody in North Dakota."

Mac was one of 10,000 torchbearers who carried the flame for approximately one kilometer or .62 of a mile. In the center of the crowds, police escorts and Olympic athletes running the route with him, Mac says he felt like Olympic royalty.

"You don't run very fast. You kind of want to soak it in," he says. "There was a lot of anxiety with the flame coming up and you had to keep that from your face."

84 days, 16,000 miles, across 42 states -- all culminating in that emotional moment when Olympic gold medal winner and three-time heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, emerged to ignite the final flame.

"When he lit the torch, it was kind of cool because he was holding the same flame that I was holding. My eyes were glued to the set," says Mac.

Like the 3-point-5 billion who were also watching, Mac says watching that cauldron ignite made the journey last a lifetime.

"There's nothing like it. It'll never happen to me again," he smiles.

Mac got to keep the torch after his run. He says each torch is engineered to burn long enough for one leg of the relay