Twenty local athletes who will represent Medicine Hat at the Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games received a send-off by members of the Law Enforcement Torch Run team downtown Wednesday afternoon.--NEWS PHOTOS BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Athletes who represent Medicine Hat at the Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games this July received a warmhearted send-off by members of the Law Enforcement Torch Run team downtown Wednesday afternoon.
Twenty athletes, who will compete in approximately 10 events at the Summer Games held in Grande Prairie from July 11-13, were joined by officers to participate in a torch run along First Street and beside the South Saskatchewan River before hosting a charity barbecue at the police station.
The torch run, seen by dozens of passing motorists and pedestrians downtown, was held as a public awareness and fundraiser event for the Special Olympics by the grassroots fundraising organization that supports athletes with intellectual disabilities.
David Allen, with the Law Enforcement Torch Run, says the event honours the dedication and training athletes put into their sport, and breaks any stigma surrounding the Special Olympics.
“Everyone thinks of the Special Olympics and they think of something every four years, but in reality, if you look at the schedule for the Special Olympics in Medicine Hat, they’ve got four things going on every week,” explains Allen. “And they’re all excellent at developing things like hand-eye co-ordination and social skills. There’s just a tremendous breadth of development that’s being done.”
Bocce athlete Brydon Marchard had the honour of carrying the torch alongside police chief Alan Murphy, and told the News the run and local support local athletes received Wednesday afternoon will inspire during competitions.
Marchard will be competing in his second Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games. The provincial games are used as a provincial qualifier for athletes vying to compete on the national stage.
Next August the Hat will host that national stage as the city prepares to welcome more than 1,700 athletes and coaches from coast to coast to coast during the 2026 Special Olympic Canada Summer Games.
“We are super excited for our local athletes to be able to go to the provincial games, represent locally Medicine Hat, compete in those games and, who knows, in those games they could end up qualifying to compete in the national games in Medicine Hat next year,” said Kara Brake, games manager for the Special Olympic Canada Summer Games in Medicine Hat.
For the city, the games will mark the first major multi-sport event held in Medicine Hat since the 2017 Special Olympic Alberta Summer Games.
“So it’s exciting that we finally get to welcome people back to our communities, show the country what we can do in hosting,” says Brake. “We’re expecting about 1,700 participants, so we’re really excited that so many people will come to Medicine Hat and experience the hospitality that we can give them.”
Allen says next year’s torch run prior to the games will be massive in comparison to Wednesday’s event that celebrates athletes on the provincial scale.
“2026 is going to be way bigger,” explains Allen. “We’re going to have a national torch run coming here and that’s a totally different kettle of fish, that’ll be a lot of fun.”
Allen says members of the Law Enforcement Torch Run remain under pressure to creatively light the torch that represents courage, celebration of diversity and the unity of communities, and is often called the Flame of Hope.
“We also have to come up with something creative for the lighting of the flame at the start of the games and that falls on law enforcement for that, so we got some ideas, they’re all very hush hush for now, but we got some ideas.”
The Special Olympic Alberta Summer Games runs July 11-13 in Grande Prairie, and the 2026 Special Olympic Canada Games in Medicine Hat run Aug. 11-15, 2026.
