Hundreds of elementary school children will welcome the Olympic Torch on its brief journey through Prescott on Monday afternoon.

Prescott Mayor Suzanne Dodge, chairman of the local torch run committee, said 400 students from St. Mark Catholic and 240 from Boundary Public School will line areas of Edward Street to see the Olympic flame.

They're being encouraged to wear red and they'll be waving miniature Canadian flags provided by the town to wave on the torch bearers

The torch run is scheduled for less than 20 minutes in Prescott, including a two-minute welcoming ceremony at the old St. Mark School location on Edward Street.

The torch is scheduled to arrive from Morrisburg during the afternoon and the local run should start about 3 p. m. from the intersection of St. Lawrence and King streets on the west end of the downtown core.

Torchbearers will proceed east on King to Edward Street and turn north towards Highway 401 where the run is scheduled to conclude about 3:20 p. m.

From there the torch proceeds to Brockville for the next leg of the run scheduled to start shortly after 3:30 p. m.

Compared to the 1988 torch run fondly remembered by many people in Prescott, this year's event in the run-up to the February Winter Olympics in Vancouver is considerably different.

"We're not getting as much time as we did then," said Dodge.

Moreover, then-mayor Sandra Lawn was allowed to hold the torch and local residents lit their own flames from its fire.

That won't happen this year, said Dodge.

Despite the changes, Dodge said there's plenty of talk and anticipation as Monday approaches.

"I'm really excited about it," she said.

Dodge hopes to see many local residents along the route, including students from South Grenville District High School.

Meanwhile, the town has attempted to spread the word about the local opportunity to see the Olympic torch to residents from surrounding communities such as Cardinal, Maynard and Spencerville.

However, the tight security surrounding the run allowed only a last-minute release of the local schedule and prevented anything more than a poster campaign and word-of-mouth advertising to attract visitors, she said.

"But we've got the word out. We've been talking about it at meetings."

Similarly, the two-minute timeframe for a local reception made it unreasonable to seek out special guests to attend, she said.

Instead, Dodge and town councillor Mike Dimopoulos, who acted as liaison between the town and torch run organizers, will provide the local welcome.

None of the torchbearers on the Prescott leg are local residents.

Meanwhile, the names of nine torchbearers who will join Brockville's Sean Fry during the torch run in Brockville were released Friday.

The other torchbearers are Gavin Nash, Alan Richards, Alissa Simpson, Ashly Wind, Chantale Robertson, Keivan Daryushnejad, Sophie Pyne, Alison Fowler and Andrea Bolger.