CARRABASSETT VALLEY — The state’s annual Special Olympics aren’t just a sporting event for Aden Stevens, but a chance to meet with friends for a day of fun and games at Sugarloaf Mountain.
“You get to see others friends while you’re here,” he said Monday at the resort base lodge with members of his team.
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Stevens, of Farmington, was one of nearly 500 athletes and coaches from across the state who gathered Monday for the 46th annual Maine Special Olympics. The games include not just sports competition, but social events for the athletes such as group dinners, karaoke and dancing.
This year’s games were cut short by a winter storm expected to dump a foot or more of snow on the area.
To help attendees get home safely, the events that normally would be held Tuesday were condensed into Monday’s schedule, and its normal three days wrapped up a day early with dinner Monday.
Special Olympics is a year-round athletic training and competition program for adults and children with intellectual disabilities. In Maine there are more than 3,800 athletes involved in the program. Special Olympics Maine offers about 60 events annually at the local and state levels.
Athletes at the winter games compete in Nordic skiing, Alpine skiing, snowshoe, speed skating and dual ski.
Stevens and teammate Eric Atkinson of Waterville competed in cross-country skiing earlier in the day. They both liked it because of the sport’s speed.
“It goes by so fast,” Atkinson said.
About 68 teams attended the games, and the two men competed on a team from Families Matter, an adult support service.
Single digit temperatures did not stop the athletes from competing at the day’s events. A group of athletes from Work First, which provides employment support and training for people with developmental disabilities, were undeterred by the weather as they cheered their teammates on to the finish line.
Team member Jamie Buck said she trains hard for the event and likes to snowshoe with her dog when she trains.
“She sees me with my snow pants and she knows we’re going to go,” she said.
Team member Sharrie Zlotnick said she was happy but tired after crossing the finish line. Zlotnick said she likes competing for the medals and hanging out with her friends at the event.
“We love doing it,” she said.
Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252
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