The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Dreams come true’
Law enforcement officers join cross-country students for 8-mile Flame of Hope run
MIDDLETOWN — It was perfect running weather Thursday afternoon — partly cloudy with a light breeze and temps in the high 60s — as dozens made their way along the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Connecticut route.
Connecticut Valley Hospital officers Nicole Theriault and Kellie Buccini, who work for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, biked from Middletown to Cromwell. They were among the many law enforcement personnel, civilians, city students and others who will spend some part of three days running for the charity on the way to the summer games in New Haven Friday night.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve had a fascination with (the athletes’) spirit, their drive. To watch them — with no holds barred — they want to do things like everybody else,” Theriault said after she and Buccini enjoyed lunch outdoors at Middle Oak on Broad Street.
“They have no doubts in themselves. They’re fearless — they really are. It was an opportunity I just jumped on,” said Theriault, who initiated CVH’s Special Olympics participation.
“I dumped my department into it full bore,” she added.
More people than ever took part in leg three, which began Thursday in North Branford. They stopped for a meal of hot dogs and burgers on the grill, salads and pasta at 1 p.m.
Runners included 25 cross-country and track students from Woodrow Wilson Middle School and Middletown High School.
Middletown Police Detective Lee Bueller and Officer Anthony Knapp, co-chairmen of the committee, started organizing the event in February.
Justine Durr, track coach at Woodrow Wilson, who brought along nine students, contacted Buller, interested in participating.
“I’ve always done this in the past. I work for Bristol Public Schools and we did it as a run-with-the-cops kind of program,” Durr said. When she came to Middletown this year, she jumped on the chance to continue.
“They’re so excited that we actually have to rein them in,” Durr said of her young athletes. “They want to run at a 6- to 7-minute mile. I told them, ‘You go as fast as the slowest police officer.’
“For them, it’s a nice day, a time to be out of school, but also a chance to be part of something that’s bigger than they are,” Durr said. “I think they realize that when they were chosen for it.”
“I had to chase my teenagers around yesterday, making sure nobody forgot about it,” Buller said. He had put feelers out to about 40 students and was pleased to see 25 participate Thursday.
The North Branford to Hartford leg began at 8 a.m., with various teams making their way through New Haven, Wallingford, Meriden and Middlefield before crossing into Middletown.
Knapp and Bueller have been involved in the torch run for so long, they’re hardpressed to remember since when exactly.
“Years and years ago, when (former Sgt.) Rick Sienna started the Middletown stop at MiddleOak, the high school students would come,” Buller said. “I always envisioned this. It was what I wanted this to become.”
“It’s for the athletes. Year in and year out, we’re raising money, helping out their foundation. This is one of the great things they do every year,” said Knapp, who ran two miles. “These kids were going at a fast pace. They’re all cross-country kids.”
“The kids are having an absolute blast,” Buller said by phone from the truck as the runners made their way to Cromwell. Middletown Unified Sports students also joined the group Thursday.
“One of the kids, he went to Macdonough (Elementary School), ran beside me and cheered me on, so I thought it was pretty cool now it’s come full circle. His whole school was cheering me on as we went by” Spring Street, Bueller said.
There, dozens of children gathered at the front of the school to meet the runners, who made their way in a loop from Broad Street to Main Street and through the North End.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity. I knew it would be fun,” seventhgrader Melissa Carlson said.
“We still have six more miles to run,” Durr said at the lunch stop, surprising the girls.
“I didn’t realize it was a hill,” Tierra Giennelli said about the Meriden Road/ Route 66 stretch, a long, gradual incline that bested some of the adults.
Buller agreed his runners were very fast this year, which saw them arrive at Broad Street 15 minutes ahead of schedule. In the past, he said, the torch bearer kept to a 12-minute-pace. This year, he said, they ran 9-minute miles.
Jen Lafave, head trainer at Go To Fitness in Middletown on Route 3, raised $300 in donations as part of an adopt-a-mile fundraiser. She was there with two of her personal trainers.
Yvonne Lee, who ran the Providence Marathon in Rhode Island on Wednesday, covered 20 miles for Special Olympics Thursday.
“It was hard,” she said at mile 17 with a laugh — referring to the hill on Route 5 in Wallingford. “It’s really nice to see the athletes, and it’s really fun to be involved,” Lee said.
On Friday, athletes will run from locations such as Newington, Chester and Greenwich, ending at Southern Connecticut State University at 7:15 p.m., when officers and athletes run the final leg into Jess Dow Field. There, they’ll light the ceremonial cauldron during opening ceremonies for the summer games.
Officers will cumulatively run more than 530 miles through more than 100 towns over the three days.
Go To Fitness frequently takes parts in events that benefit the Humane Society, Toys for Tots and American Lung Association.
Employee Mike Funaro is a half-marathoner who will be doing his first two marathons this year: in Hartford and Beantown in Bristol. He’s also an occupational therapist.
“Being with the impaired, it’s nice to see them out in the community, doing things, making their dreams come true, see them succeed in something they enjoy doing,” Funaro said.
For information, visit soct.org.