It started Wednesday in Blaine, when a team of Bellingham police officers and others took the first steps on the 150-mile western leg of this year’s Special Olympics Torch Run. Making its way south, the torch passed to law enforcement officers from other agencies along the route, who moved it closer to its final destination at Lakewood’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord to mark the opening of this year’s Washington State Special Olympics games.

In our area, the run began bright and early, as Lynnwood police took the 7 a.m. hand-off from the Mukilteo team at Highway 99 and Lincoln Way. Those officers moved it more than six miles down Highway 99 to 212th Street Southwest, where they passed the torch to the combined Edmonds/Mountlake Terrace police team. Those officers brought the torch to the county line, where a joint team from the Shoreline and Lake Forest Park police departments and the King County Sheriff’s Department continued the torch’s southward journey.

“We’ve always had fantastic participation and support from law enforcement for this event, and 2016 is no exception,” said Kendyll Opel, Torch Run Campaign Manager for Special Olympics. “This year we have 54 agencies participating statewide in support of the Washington Special Olympics and the 14,500 special athletes who will participate this year.”

Learn more about this year’s Washington Special Olympics here.

— Story and photos by Larry Vogel