Torch Run officials invite public out for support

The organizers of the Special Olympics Torch Run in Sanders County wants to encourage people to cheer on the runners as they pass by Thursday.

Dave Hedley, the chief coordinator of the torch run for the second consecutive year, said the runners will begin at the Idaho border on Highway 200 at 7:30 a.m. with Sanders County Sheriff Gene Arnold taking the torch one mile before handing it off to Thompson Falls resident Tony Cox of the Montana Highway Patrol. Hedley, a Thompson Falls Police Department reserve officer and a part-time county deputy, said runners will relay the torch to Thompson Falls, where the city’s chief of police, Chuck Hammett, and a group of special athletes, will walk the torch through town. Other runners will pick up the torch on the east side of Thompson Falls and will take it to Plains, where it will be met by Chief of Police Shawn Emmett and about 20 Special Olympics athletes from the Little Bitterroot Services to take the torch to Highway 28.

There, Arnold will start the “Special Olympic Pony Express” part of the torch run all the way to Big Arm at Highway 93, where “the torch will be retired.” The sheriff said they have a dozen horses, which will travel about four miles each and will start their journey at 4 p.m.

Hedley said there’s no way to know for sure what time the runners will arrive in Thompson Falls, Plains or Highway 28. He anticipates the torch arriving at T-Falls sometime around 1:30 p.m. and in Plains about 4 p.m. He said they’ll have the run rain, snow or shine.

The Special Olympics Torch Run, a nationwide event, usually involves people passing a torch from runner to runner and is a fundraiser for the Special Olympics. Hedley, whose twin sons have special needs, began the torch run in Sanders County last year in an effort to raise awareness of people with disabilities and to raise money for the Special Olympics, a program that has been going on for nearly 30 years. Normally, the torch runs are made up of law enforcement officers, but because there are so few in the county, others volunteer to pass the torch, said Hedley. Tom Chianelli, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden for Sanders County, will be participating.

The torch will travel about 120 miles. This is the first time they’ve used horses for part of the run. Hedley had planned to have a third part of the run to include bicyclists from Dixon to Highway 28, but couldn’t get enough participants, although they did get commitments from junior high cross country and track runners from Plains, Paradise and Thompson Falls.

Hedley raised about $2,000 last year, primarily with the sale of Special Olympics T-shirts. He hopes to fetch about $3,000 this year, but has only about $1,800, so far.

However, he said the moral support is important, too. “I hope everyone steps out of their homes and cheers the runners as they pass.”