(Supplied by Special Olympics Alberta)

By David Opinko

AB Law Enforcement Torch Run halfway to fundraising goal, seeking more participants

Aug 11, 2020 | 11:31 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – You do not have to be in law enforcement to take part, but organizers are looking for more people to support local Special Olympic athletes.

For the first-ever “Virtual Summer Series”, approximately $27,000 to $28,000 dollars has been raised so far, putting them just over halfway to their goal of raising $50,000.

“When you’re going into something that’s totally brand new given the situation of what was going on when we launched, we were really unsure of how much people would jump on board, so we’ve been very happy with how many people have joined us,” says Director of Business Development and Law Enforcement Torch Run with Special Olympics Alberta Lorrie Sitler.

The biking leg of the event has already concluding while the running portion is set to end later this week. The last section, which is walking, will go from August 15 to September 15.

Those wishing to take part can set walking challenges of anywhere from 25,000 to 500,000 steps and are encouraged to collect donations along the way.

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“Everybody just does it out at their own pace and in their own areas. If they’re on holidays, they’re doing it there and just taking advantage of being outside.”

Matt Burton, the local event organizer based in Lethbridge, says the Law Enforcement Torch Run is not only a great way of getting people to exercise outdoors, but also to raise money for Special Olympics Alberta.

Even though the 2020 Tokyo Games was postponed to next year, Sitler told LNN that athletes and organizers do need the funds now.

With facilities only being able to accommodate a smaller number of people due to social distancing requirements, they need to book time out of a greater number of facilities. Additional PPE also has to be purchased for athletes.

This is in addition to moving programs online.

“When everything happened and we had to shut down our programs, we moved everything to virtual. We were providing once-a-day online exercise Facebook live videos, and then we have a Healthy At Home platform that we’ve been building where athletes can take part in different virtual-type events.”

More details on the Law Enforcement Torch Run, including how to take part, can be found on the Alberta Special Olympics website here.

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