By Amy Nelson
anelson@newsroom.byu.edu
Law enforcement officers ran the Special Olympics torch into the BYU outdoor track June 1 to end the Law Enforcement Torch Run and begin the Special Olympics Summer Games.
As part of the opening ceremonies for the games, the torch was brought in and carried around the track by four officers followed by eight wailing police motorcycles. The second time around the track, the honor of carrying the torch was shared with four special olympians who passed it off in a relay.
Cheers rang through the crowd as the last carrier sprinted away from the rest of the group and ran up the platform to light the cauldron for the Flame of Hope. Hope Woodside, honorary chairperson of the Torch Run, thanked special olympians and participants in the Torch Run.
'It's been long way to get here today. Thanks for cheering along the way,' Woodside said.
Thursday marked the end of the torch's 21-day journey through the Utah, carried by law enforcement officers who raised money by selling Torch Run t-shirts and getting donations from local businesses.
Bob Mitchell, Salt Lake County Deputy Sheriff and State Director of the Torch Run, estimated that the Torch Run will bring in $100,000 for Utah this year. Donations and pledged amounts are still being collected, and the books will be closed in September, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the funds raised from the torch run used to be given to the state Special Olympics office to be distributed as needed, but six years ago they started returning the funds to the exact areas where the money was raised.
A lot of the money raised goes to pay for the uniforms for the athletes, Mitchell said as he tugged on the shirt of an athlete sitting next to him.
Sgt. Mike Nelsen of Brigham City said the Torch Run is a great program because it helps raise awareness of police helping the community and it is a great opportunity for officers to get involved. Mitchell estimated between eight and nine hundred law enforcement officers participated this year.
The Torch Run gets more popular every year, sometimes attracting almost more officers who want to participate than the organizers can handle, Nelsen said.
The fundraiser has become a competition among the counties in Utah; the county that raises the most money gets bragging rights and its name printed on the official t-shirt, Nelsen said. Brigham City Police brought in the most funds last year.
Nelsen related a story of a Brigham City Police Officer who occasionally does horse patrol and wanted to ride his horse in the Torch Run.
Nelsen said the officer was going to ride about three miles on the horse, but part of the way into it the horse lost a shoe and threw the officer off.
The officer walked away with a few scrapes.
'I think his ego was hurt more than anything,' Nelsen said.
Lyn Rees, Torch Run Liaison for the Utah Special Olympics, said the Torch Run is one of their biggest fundraisers and one of the few in which the money is given directly to the teams in the community in which it was raised.
The Torch Run was founded in 1981 by Wichita, Kansas Police Chief Richard Lamunyon when he saw a need to raise funds and awareness for the Special Olympics. Since then it has expanded through all fifty states and sixteen countries worldwide, raising millions of dollars for the Special Olympics, Rees said.