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Law Enforcement Torch Run - A Cycling Marathon

The team, which consisted of members from MHPS, the Lethbridge Regional
Police Service, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, RCMP and Blood Tribe
Police, left right on schedule at 1300 hours after a sendoff by local
Special Olympians and dignitaries.

After a windy ride up Highway #1 and #56, we arrived in Drumheller
around 9 p.m. and had a sit down meal at Boston Pizza.  Up until this
point the weather had been not too bad except for a persistent north
west wind.  The team was broken down into 3 groups, a fast, medium and
slow group with each doing a one hour shift on the road.

We continued up highway 56 into the darkness which was shortly followed
by rain and eventually sleet!  It was nice to see the eastern sky slowly
brighten as we approached Camrose and the end of the rain, or so we
thought.

Our next stop was Tim Horton's in Leduc for a much needed hot coffee and
breakfast, this was at 7 a.m.  Up to this point our 10 riders had faired
fairly well with no injuries and no mechanicals other than a flat tire.

At shortly after 9 a.m. the entire team road into the Sandman Inn in
West Edmonton, only one other team had arrived before us and that was
the Peace River Team.  It had to rain one last time as we entered the
city! Not long after our arrival Fort McMurray arrived followed by
Grande Prairie and than the Calgary Team.

Just before 2 p.m. the entire group, approximately 50 riders, formed up
in the Sandman Inn parking lot and  were escorted across the city to
Foote Field where we were greeted by a crowd of a couple hundred
cheering people, most being Special Olympics Athletes from across
Alberta.  After several speeches by local and provincial dignitaries our
main organizer presented a cheque to Special Olympics Alberta for
$84,000!

After the ceremony our team had a much needed shower and than attended a
banquet hosted by Special Olympics and enjoyed a hot meal.

Bed came early that night for everyone and the following morning we
traveled back to Lethbridge.

We'd like to thank our local sponsors from Medicine Hat and Lethbridge
who assisted us on our trip; Traxx Coachlines, Tim Hortons, CyclePath,
Icy Mountain Water, Wal-Mart, Murray's Chev Olds, Canada Safeway, Red
Bull, D.A. Electric Ltd., D.A. Building Systems Ltd., A&W, and All-Tra
Battery.

Cst. Blaine Stodolka
Community Liaison Officer
Lethbridge Regional Police Service