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Torch Run kicks off Special Olympics weekend

Summer Games taking place in Newark
Delaware State Police Cpl. Jim Gooch holds the Special Olympics flame for all to see June 6 during a kick-off ceremony at the Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach. BY RON MACARTHUR
June 7, 2012
A police motorcycle escort leads runners on the first leg of the Torch Run. BY RON MACARTHUR
Susan Shea, widow of deceased Delaware State Trooper Chris Shea, is the honorary first torch bearer. Cpl. Shea was killed in 2004 by a drunk driver who was driving the wrong way on Route 1 near Milford. She was accompanied by Andrew Shea, brother of Chris and a state police recruit, and her two children. BY RON MACARTHUR
Mark W. Kristunas leads a group of police recruit runners as they accompany the torch on Route 1 during its first leg toward Troop 7 in Lewes. BY RON MACARTHUR
Jeremy Eglet, who will participate in the Special Olympics Summer Games, dances to the music of First State Force at the Bandstand. BY RON MACARTHUR
Motorcycles lead the way north on Route 1 during the first leg of the 26th annual Torch Run. BY RON MACARTHUR
Police academy recruits not only took part in the Torch Run, they raised $10,000 to support the event. BY RON MACARTHUR
Carrying the torch is recruit Andrew Shea, brother of fallen DSP Cpl. Chris Shea. He is accompanied by other members of the Shea family at the start of the 2012 Torch Run. BY RON MACARTHUR

The 26th annual Torch Run kicked off the Special Olympics Summer Games with a gala sendoff June 6 at the Bandstand in Rehoboth Beach. The run has started in Rehoboth Beach for the past 15 years.

A police motorcycle escorted the Flame of Hope, and Cpl. Jim Gooch presented it to Susan Shea in memory of her husband, Cpl. Chris Shea, who was killed in a traffic crash in 2004. Runners took the flame to Troop 7 for the night and the run resumed early June 7 in three Sussex County locations – Delmar, Lewes and Georgetown.

The three Sussex County legs of the Torch Run united in Harrington, where the run headed north to end in Newark to open the Summer Games. Delaware is the only state in the country that runs a lit Flame of Hope the entire length of the state prior to its Summer Games.

In the 25-year history of Delaware Law Enforcement for Special Olympics, more than $3.5 million has been raised.

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