Quest for fire (95 Olympic Torch Relay photos)

Jessica Tuomela promised herself she wouldn't cry.

But tonight, she just couldn't help herself.

11,000 people make a lot of noise.

Local Paralympic swimmer Jessica Tuomela and her guide dog Glacier ran the last leg into the Essar Centre tonight, carrying in the Olympic flame to uproarious approval from a crowd estimated by police at 5,000 inside and 6,000 outside.

Tuomela, blinded by retinoblastoma at the age of three, was one of more than 70 torchbearers who helped bring the Olympic Torch today from Timmins.

Shown is another torchbearer, Marva Schlueter, who came to the Sault from Franklin, Wisconsin for the privilege of carrying it through our streets.

"I like the noise," Tuomela said of the experience entering the Essar Centre tonight, "Because, for me, I can't see that they're there and they're excited. I can't see their faces, so it was really neat to hear everybody and to know that they were that excited, to know that it meant that much to them. It just wouldn't mean as much to me if it didn't mean that much to them."

Tuomela lit the Olympic Flame cauldron at the Essar Centre, after a short delay for Glacier to do what dogs do outside just before coming in from the freezing cold.

The Paralympic athlete said she thought she'd be nervous about the run through such a huge crowd, but not as nervous as she ended up being.

"It was overwhelming, but in a good way," she said.

But as it turned out, Tuomela didn't need to worry about the cold.

"They said the torch would warm us, but I thought they meant more in an emotional way," Tuomela said. "No, it was actually really hot!"

After standing on stage for the speeches with the torch, Tuomela said the thing started feeling pretty heavy, too.

But it was certainly worth it.

For Tuomela, hearing the screams of thousands of people waiting for her was a moving and unforgettable experience.

So too, for Ross Dukes.

"It was incredible," Dukes told SooToday.com. "Something I'll never forget."

Dukes ran his 300 metres partly on Pim Street and partly on Queen Street.

He was keeping a family tradition alive.

His sister was a torchbearer for the 1988 Olympic torch relay and she was on site tonight to cheer him on while wearing the jacket she wore in 1988.

Donna Hopper, Carol Martin, David Helwig and Donald Wilson covered tonight's relay events for SooToday.com, and we also received many, many dozens of reader-submitted photos.

We'll be adding more images and video coverage throughout the day.