For Elliot Lake's Special Olympics runner Jason Smith, Friday was a red letter day.
He was the official torch bearer for this year's Elliot Lake Law Enforcement Torch Run. After police lit his flame, Jason carried it proudly, as he ran from the Elliot Lake highway greeting sign on Highway 108 at Essen Road South, heading north into the central city.
The running group included police sergeants Joanne Pendrak (Sudbury Police Service) and Monique Baker of the Ontario Provincial Police Sault Ste. Marie Detachment.
The Torch Run went ahead a little after 3 p.m. as police from the East Algoma OPP detachment were investigating a serious two vehicle crash on Highway 17 in Huron Shores.
The local OPP cooperated with Sault Ste. Marie city and OPP departments to make sure a crash investigation on Highway 17 between Bruce Mines and Blind River and the Torch Run were handled properly, at the same time.
As an entourage of OPP, City of Sault Ste. Marie and Law Enforcement Torch Run vehicles with emergency lights activated moved north with the Torch Runners into the city, they were greeted in front of the Elliot Lake Civic Centre by about 30 cheering supporters, including several Special Olympics athletes.
Two of them were husband and wife bowlers Lori and Gord Boudreau of Elliot Lake. The Boudreau's managed to collect $461 on their own this year to help create a final tally of more than $3,500 raised in the local event. The couple has participated in a number of local and regional Special Olympics competitions.
Many of the Torch Run supporters fell in behind procession leader Jason Smith as he carried the torch past the Civic Centre onto Manitoba Road and through downtown streets to the OPP headquarters. That's where the Torch Run ended a few minutes later, on Hillside Drive North.
At 5 p.m., another Law Enforcement Torch Run was held in Blind River.
In 2016, the latest year they have final figures for, Torch Run Ontario raised $1.7 million, through its various activities.
The Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run is the biggest publicity tool and locally-based fundraiser for Special Olympics. Each year, as Guardians of the Flame, law enforcement members and Special Olympics athletes carry their "Flame of Hope" into the opening ceremonies of a number competitions at levels from local to regional, provincial, national and international.
Over several decades, the Torch Run has evolved to include Polar Plunges, Tip-A-Cops, NHL Alumni Games, Torch Rides, plus Endurance Series and other events.
Since its inception in 1987 in Ontario, the Law Enforcement Torch Run has raised more than $35 million and helped change a lot of public attitudes.
As officials in the movement state, it has "now become a roaring flame of stability for Special Olympics athletes, worldwide." All Torch Run funds from Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run events are applied to program support that affects all community Special Olympic Ontario programs.
Torch Run founder and retired Police Chief Richard LaMunyon of Wichita, Kansas once said, "We provide opportunities for athletes to empower and transform themselves, their communities and the world." No doubt observers of the event in Elliot Lake would agree it was a perfect example of the founder's comment.