Torch relay set for 2010 Paralympics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The 2010 Winter Paralympics will be launched with a 10-day torch relay across Canada that organizers said on Thursday will highlight the determination of disabled athletes.

The relay will begin March 3 in Ottawa and is expected to involve 600 torchbearers. They will carry the flame to Vancouver on the Pacific Coast, where the Paralympics are scheduled to start on March 12, following the end of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The 2010 Paralympic Games in Vancouver and the nearby mountain resort community of Whistler are expected to draw about 1,300 athletes from more than 40 countries for events such as Alpine and Nordic skiing, and sledge hockey.

The athletes have disabilities such as visual impairment, paralysis or amputations. They will use the same facilities used for competitions during the Olympics.

The Paralympic torch relay will be small in comparison to the Olympic Games torch event, which will begin October 30 and continue until February 12, 2010, in Vancouver.

The two relays will share the same torch design, although they will have different colours, with Paralympic's being steel blue and the Olympics being white.

The Olympic torch received some unwanted publicity recently when media reports noted its apparent likeness to a marijuana cigarette.

(Reporting by Allan Dowd, editing by Rob Wilson)