Summer Games Special Olympics Iowa to Open this week

The Spirit Lake Park, and Okoboji Special Olympics Teams will be heading to Ames, Iowa this Wednesday to participate in Special Olympics Iowa Summer Games 2016.  Our area athletes will be competing in Cycling and Track and Field events beginning on Thursday this week.  Special Olympics provides an opportunity for everyone to compete on their own level.  As a family who has supported and watched our daughter participate since second grade, this is an event we wait for all year.  Traveling from Spirit Lake, Iowa to Ames to watch all these great athletes come together for competition, friendship, achievement, success, and joy is a moving experience for all who attend.  If you are around Iowa State University Campus this week, stop by and check it out.

The 32nd annual Iowa Special Olympics Summer Games will open next week at Iowa State University in Ames. Stephanie Kozer is spokeswoman for the games, which are expected to draw competitors from across the state.

“We have about 2,600 athletes coming, coaches, volunteers, staff, local law enforcement,” Kozer says. “The events kick off next Monday with our Law Enforcement Torch Run.” That event involves about 500 law officers from across Iowa who will be running, walking and biking along predetermined routes, headed for Ames.

“They will converge downtown on Thursday where they’ll take the flame and go to Hilton Colliseum at Iowa State to kick off the opening ceremonies,” Kozer says. “Then, they hand off the flame to one of the athletes who lights the Olympic flame and signifies the opening of the games.” A wide variety of sporting events are scheduled.

“We have competitions going Thursday, Friday and Saturday, everything from tennis to athletics, which is track & field, cycling, bocce, soccer,” she says. Admission is free. Learn more at: www.soiowa.org

Information for Blog was provided by Radio Iowa Contributor and Nancy Vierkant, Realtor® Exit Realty Midwest.

When looking to buy or sell a home in the Iowa Great Lakes please call Nancy Vierkant, Realtor®.  Working Spirit Lake, Okoboji, Arnolds Park and Midford.  I can help find you the perfect getaway to spend the summer on Lake Okoboji, Iowa