The public is encouraged to come out on Wednesday, May 5, to cheer on some of Sedona’s most dedicated athletes.
The Special Olympics Torch Run will kick off at 9 a.m. at the Sedona Cultural Park and will traverse through West Sedona to the Sedona Fire District’s Station 4 on Forest Road in Uptown at around 11 a.m. — a total of 4.5 miles. The event, which was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19, is again being hosted by the Sedona Police Department.
“I’m excited and so are the athletes,” said Officer Catherine Beers, who is organizing the event. “We’re expecting to have the largest number of athletes ever from Sedona to participate. Every $500 that’s donated to Special Olympics funds an athletes for an entire year.”
In all, 77 participants will take part in the run. They will include local Special Olympic athletes, unified partners, coaches, and volunteers as well as representatives from the Sedona Police Department, Sedona Fire District, Cottonwood and Clarkdale police departments, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, Arizona Game and Fish and the U.S. Forest Service. The athletes will complete the first three miles and law enforcement the final mile and a half.
According to information from the SPD, the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Arizona is a large-scale effort led by law enforcement professionals throughout Arizona to provide awareness and grassroots fundraising to Special Olympics, while promoting the ever-important message of inclusion. This year — due to the pandemic — Sedona is one of the only organizations having a live event; thus, the inclusion of surrounding agencies. However, the sponsored athletes are all Sedona residents.
Along the way there will be three aid stations staffed by SFD personnel with water and snacks provided by Safeway, Wildflower Bread Company, Outlaw Grille and Bashas’ as well as Nice Jons, who will provide the portable toilets. The city’s public works department and city maintenance crews have also assisted in organizing the event and are providing the needed supplies.
The highway will remain open as the participants will stay on the sidewalks, but there will be a trio of SPD patrol cars alerting other motorists of the group.
“We’d love to see people come out and cheer on the athletes or even just toot their horn as they go by,” Beers said. “It will all be appreciated.”
Tiffany Wilson, a special education teacher and the head coach of the local Special Olympics team, said they currently have 11 athletes on the team from the junior and senior high school, 11 unified partners as well as seven athletes at West Sedona School.
“For many members of our team this will be their first Torch Run event,” she said. “Our Unified Champion School Sedona Red Rock Junior/Senior High School had some drastic changes in how we have participated in Special Olympics during this pandemic. We now have a virtual class and in-person class for our unified team.”
She said they launched a Unified Club for coordinating more online outreach to their home team — Sedona Red Rockers — as well as fundraisers.
“My team at both schools is super excited to participate in this mock Torch Run event,” Wilson said. “This will also be the first event to involve our whole team from both schools. We have had a bit of collaboration at the virtual level but students have not been able to interact in person.
“We are so thankful to Officer Beers in providing us this opportunity. We truly appreciate all her hard work she has been doing to help support our team. She has brought together the Sedona Police Department and many other groups to help support our team. We are so grateful to see so many people still there and supporting us during this time.”
