Everyone got a little colorful during Special Olympics Colorado Torch Run
Eagle County's color run was the first of its kind, and the first of the year
Zoe Goldstein/Vail Daily
Laughter abounded in Edwards’ Freedom Park parking lot Saturday as dozens of people of all ages donned white T-shirts and danced amongst a rainbow of colorful powders. This was the starting line of Eagle County’s Special Olympics Colorado Torch Run.
The Torch Run is one of several fundraisers organized by local law enforcement and emergency services agencies throughout the year for Special Olympics Colorado, providing financial support for the summer and winter competitions, as well as for athletes’ medical bills and other necessary expenses.
“Law enforcement raised over a million and a half dollars a year, so it’s events like this, that are law enforcement-driven events, that raise all that money,” said Stacy Cruz, the Torch Run coordinator for Special Olympics Colorado.
“Law enforcement is the guardian of the flame,” Cruz said. “The flame is raising awareness and funds for Special Olympics athletes, so they carry the torch to signify their partnership with Special Olympics,” she said.
Many of Eagle County’s law enforcement and emergency services agencies attended the Torch Run. “We had really great representation today from all of your local law enforcement agencies,” Cruz said.
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This year marked 40 years of the Special Olympics Colorado Torch Run, an anniversary that was commemorated on the white T-shirts worn by torch run participants, which were designed by a Special Olympics Colorado Athlete.
The white shirts did not stay white for long, however. The run kicked off with a spray of colorful powders into the air, covering most runners and walkers in a rainbow of colors before they started their exercise. At the finish line, law enforcement officers sprayed even more colors at runners and walkers, so that many were colorful from head to toe.
Eagle County’s Torch Run was the first in a series of roughly 15 to 20 Special Olympics Colorado Torch Runs that will occur throughout the state during the summer and into the fall.
The torch runs draw attention to the Special Olympics Colorado Summer Games, which take place yearly in Grand Junction. This year’s Summer Games will run from June 7-9 at Colorado Mesa University and will include soccer, swimming and powerlifting among other sports.
The torch bearer on Saturday was Edwards resident Jade Ohde, a four-sport Special Olympics athlete. “It was good,” Ohde said of the experience of carrying the torch.
The torch, Ohde said, was not heavy, and she had others alongside her throughout her walk with the torch.
Ohde participates in skiing, swimming, bowling and cycling through Special Olympics Colorado.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” she said.
Roughly 75 to 80 people participated in the run, which had 5-kilometer and 1-mile options for runners and walkers. Everyone who registered in advance came ready to run, and another two dozen or so people signed up day-of, Cruz said. Participants included some of Eagle County’s Special Olympics athletes and members of local law enforcement and emergency services agencies.
Eagle County’s Special Olympics Colorado Torch Run has taken place for decades. Deputy Lisa Vasquez, with the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, has organized the event for 26 years.
“The highlight is just watching everybody have fun,” Vasquez said.
Over the years, the event has taken different forms, with virtual runs during COVID and the introduction of the 5-kilometer distance in 2019. This year, Vasquez said, the thinking was, “Let’s do something different.”
This year’s run was the first time a Torch Run has also been a color run. “Everybody loves color runs,” Vasquez said.
Run participants were treated to pizza, dessert, drinks, music, dancing and more colors at the finish line.
After 26 years of organizing the event, Vasquez said, she is “passing the torch” of organizing the Torch Run to a new team at the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office. This year’s event was coordinated by Ashley LaFleur and Karina Toscano, with guidance from Vasquez.
“It looks like we had a great turnout,” Vasquez said. “I think this is one of our bigger runs.”
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“We definitely couldn’t do it without the public and our (Special Olympics) athletes, and it’s great because it gets people out here to meet our athletes that they wouldn’t normally see,” Vasquez said.
The next law enforcement-run Special Olympics Colorado fundraiser in Eagle County will be the Halloween-themed Polar Plunge in October, which sees participants dive into Avon’s Nottingham Lake. Anyone can participate, many wear costumes, and some law enforcement officers complete the plunge in uniform.
