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Spanning the globe, or at least the Peninsula, a solar-powered, pulsating torch will travel from the Golden Gate Bridge to Palo Alto City Hall Saturday to mark the official opening of the 2009 Summer National Senior Games.

Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier and Vice Mayor Jack Morton are expected to take part as two of 45 torchbearers. Drekmeier will carry it for the first leg in Palo Alto, after it arrives via Caltrain at about 7:15 p.m.

The Senior Games, the largest multi-sport event for athletes 50 years and older, includes medal competition in 18 sports, plus tournaments and contests in six demonstration sports. Nearly 10,000 athletes and up to 20,000 spectators are expected at the Games, which will run from Aug. 1-15. Most sporting competitions will take place at Stanford University and in Palo Alto.

The solar-powered torch -- crafted out of old-growth redwood from a mill in Humboldt County -- is believed to be the first non-fossil-fuel-burning torch in either Senior Games or Olympics history, Games organizers said.

The torch uses six high-powered LEDs, a uniquely faceted amber lens, and solar-charged cells and a mechanism that flickers the intensity of light as the torch is moved to mimic the appearance of a flame. It took a year to engineer, according to its creators at IDEO, the Palo Alto design firm.

Mark Harrison, an electrical engineer at IDEO, said the 2.75-pound torch "has a lot of power; it's kind of like a car taillight," requiring a fan and cooling system. It includes computer boards as well as Li-polymer batteries that last approximately 1.5 hours.

Anne Warner Cribbs, president and CEO of the 2009 Summer National Senior Games, drew a parallel between the new torch and the athletes.

"These competitors, like the torch that was specially designed for them, are trailblazers and shining examples of how ingenuity, effort, perseverance and vision create a vital new paradigm that promotes health and sustainability for people and the planet," she said at a press conference in June.

Saturday's relay will start out from Fort Point in San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. with senior cyclist Barbara Gicquel. Olympian and triple-jump champion Willie Banks and world-record holder and Olympic swimmer John Naber will also run early stretches.

The torch relay will continue along the Bay via Marina Green to Pier 39, where it will board a sailboat for a short cruise to McCovey Cove.

It will be carried into AT&T Park by Olympic figure-skater Peggy Fleming at about 5:30 p.m., Cribbs said Friday.

Leaving the stadium, the torch will ride Caltrain, arriving at 7:17 p.m. at University Avenue, where Drekmeier will take up the relay.

The torch will be carried from the train station south along El Camino Real, past Stanford Stadium, onto campus and then down Palm Drive, entering Palo Alto along University Avenue. It will travel to King Plaza via Cowper Street and Hamilton Avenue, according to Games organizers.

Stanford and WNBA basketball star Jennifer Azzi is scheduled to run the torch into King Plaza, where Palo Alto residents and athletes Beth and John Guislin will use it to "light" a 12-foot solar-powered cauldron.

Made of a metal frame and some 800 mirrored tiles arranged in a sweeping, open-ended hourglass shape, the cauldron is surrounded by solar cells. The cells provide power to the structure's eight 15-watt LED floodlamps, making it glow at night.

In addition to the cauldron lighting, the opening ceremony will include music, family activities and fireworks. Drekmeier is also scheduled to present Cribbs with a proclamation from the city.

To accommodate the ceremony, Hamilton Avenue between Ramona and Bryant streets in Palo Alto will be closed from 2 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Palo Alto Police Department.

There will also be 5- to 10-minute delays on the Stanford University campus and in downtown Palo Alto due to a roving motorcade with police escort for torch runners.

The cauldron will be relocated to the Stanford campus for the remainder of the Games, organizers said.

Information about the Games is posted at www.2009SeniorGames.org .

Coverage of the opening ceremony, including a video, will be posted on Palo Alto Online on Sunday.