A torch run starts tomorrow in Ames, Iowa, for the National Special Olympic Games, which will be held later this month in Lincoln, Nebraska. Ames hosted the last Games in 2006 and Mark Reed, president and CEO of Special Olympics Iowa, says the ceremony in Ames and the run will include athletes from across the country.
The Flame of Hope will be lighted from the cauldron in Ames and it will be run through several Iowa cities to the Nebraska border, where a new crop of runners will carry it through 70 Nebraska cities before it arrives in the Husker State’s capitol next weekend. Reed says it’s seen as a big honor to carry the torch.
The opening ceremonies are July 18th in Lincoln and the Games will run through July 23rd. The torch run teams are comprised of people from 48 states as well as eight Special Olympics athletes. There will be Iowa stops in West Des Moines, Atlantic and Council Bluffs. Reed says there will be a special tribute during this year’s event to the person who started the program.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of Special Olympics, died in August of last year and her birthday will fall during the Games this year, so she will be the subject of a touching tribute. Learn more at: “www.2010specialolympics.org“.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City