Athletes, law enforcement carry the torch for Special Olympics World Games
Traffic along La Cañada’s Foothill Boulevard was temporarily halted Wednesday morning to make way for a rare procession, as athletes and law enforcement officers carried a torch ultimately on its way to the 2015 Special Olympics World Games.
Members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Fire departments joined the California Highway Patrol and local city officials for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, which began that day at Mayor’s Discovery Park and ended at Memorial Park. Participants sang a military cadence as they ran:
People want to know
Who we are
Where we come from
We are the Guardians
Guardians of the Torch
Among the Memorial Park onlookers was La Cañada mother Terry West. She came with 15-year-old son Zachary, an athlete member of Glendale’s Tri-Valley Regional team who lives with Down Syndrome and autism, to see the torch and support the cause before the Opening Ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.
PHOTOS: Special Olympics torch makes its way through LCF
“It’s probably the only time, in our lifetimes, that we’ll be able to see the World Games,” said West. “It’s amazing to see our kids participate in something they can excel at. It gives me goose bumps to see these people from all over the world.”
La Crescenta mom Janice Ghoslin turned out Wednesday to see the run alongside 17-year-old daughter Samantha, a Crescenta Valley High School senior with Down Syndrome who is also a member of Glendale’s regional team of athletes.
“We’re going to see the Opening Ceremony on Saturday; it’s like a bucket list thing for me,” Ghoslin said. As she spoke, the torchbearers, preceded by a sheriff’s escort with lights blazing, approached La Cañada Boulevard. Samantha Ghoslin cheered and waved her arms.
“That’s why we’re here,” Janice Ghoslin added, pointing at her daughter.
The runners were greeted at the Memorial Park gazebo by former Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Dave Spence and Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station Captain Bill Song, along with peals of applause.
“This is an exciting moment both for our town and community, and around the world,” emcee Portantino said of the torch run, which has raised more than $500 million for the Special Olympics since 1981.
Jamaican athlete Nigel Davis, a 38-year-old who’s participated in the Special Olympics since 1991 in various events, said he was excited to join this year’s Torch Run.
“This gives me a good experience. It’s truly like a family,” said Davis, who works in a factory that makes soap for tourists. “The Special Olympics gives me a chance to explore. (It) gives me the encouragement to compete in different sports, to show the world, to go through and perform well.”
Fellow torch runner Bruce Felton, of Ohio’s Solon Police Department, provided a brief history of the Special Olympic games, first held in the summer of 1968. He commended the games and the athletes’ enduring message.
“’Let me win. But if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt’ — that’s the mantra of the Special Olympics, but we should all pay special attention to that,” Felton said.
The Flame of Hope will continue its journey through other communities on its way to Saturday’s Opening Ceremony, where it will ignite the caldron at Memorial Coliseum and officially begin the nine-day event. More than 6,500 athletes representing 165 countries will compete through Aug. 2.
