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Team Ireland Diaries

Friday 13th February

Hi everyone,

It's just half past eleven on Friday night, February 13th and the 2009 Special Olympics Winter Games have come to a dramatic climax in Boise, Idaho. Let me take you back 24hrs.

At this time last night in the team camp there was concern for one athlete, Charlie, who had developed a temperature and wasn't feeling well. With finals tomorrow, we were all anxious to see if he would make it. Unfortunately after an early morning visit to the medical centre he wasn't passed fit to participate and had to be withdrawn from the slalom event. This somewhat dampened spirits in the camp and we took our last trip to Bogus Basin less a team mate, a character and a fantastic athlete who had given 110% in all activities since we left Dublin. He would be missed on the mountain for the day by the team obviously, but also by the venue volunteers who were somewhat captivated by his charm over the last 5 days.

Once we got off our bus, you could feel that the temperatures had dropped on the mountain and the wind was up to add to our woes. We donned extra layers and prepared for our competition. Today was the final of the slalom event and we knew we should do well as it is our favourite event.

As usual we had two runs, one at 9.30am and another at noon. By 10am we were all gathered in the lodge and trying to decide what we were going to have to eat. As a special gesture the Eastern Region phoned and wanted to buy us lunch as they were delighted with our performance throughout the Games. It may have sounded early for lunch but do remember breakfast is at 5.30am and it was really cold today. We thank all in the Eastern Region for lunch and we look forward to seeing them all in the airport on Monday.

Once more in to the breach dear friends and we are on our skis again, it is only 11.30am. This is to be our last time on the lift and our last run in the 2009 SOWWG.

We had all athletes clear this morning and in the freezing cold of an Idahoan winter, we wanted all to be safe again. Some were lying in very strong positions going in to their second run especially Ryan and Lorraine on the intermediate slope. Ryan was the fastest in his divisioning run and was still in first position after the earlier run and Lorraine who was lying in fourth after divisioning, picked up a super run in the morning and was also in pole position in her group.

Over on the novice slope all 5 were up and ready at the starting gate, but there was a problem, they were missing Charlie. They had a quick team talk and decided to ski for Charlie and do their best to make him proud of the team. What a super group of young athletes.

Things were moving pretty fast in the venue today as everyone wanted to get in out of the cold and also to prepare for the closing ceremony which was on later in the evening. By 1pm we knew our fate, and what a day it was, to finish what were, a truly fantastic Games from a superb team of athletes.

There was gold for Ryan on the intermediate slope and silver for Lorraine, while over on the novice course, Rebecca won bronze, Katherine came in 4th, Clara in fifth, Cathal in silver medal position and finally, Ben. After skiing out of his skin in the morning he put in a tremendous effort and finished in 1st place with a great combined time of 1:25.49. “This was for Charlie” he told us later.

We got back to our hotel  much earlier this evening and this gave us time to change and get dressed for The Closing Ceremony of the 2009 SOWWG. We got on our bus with Gayle for the very last time and headed out to the Idaho Centre in Nampa. When we arrived, there were buses by the dozen lined up and you could hear the clatter of medals resounding around the car park as athletes disembarked. There were high fives and hugs, claps and cheers and, as is the custom in Special Olympics, there were lots and lots of tears, mostly from the volunteers.

We entered the arena and our fans were easy to spot, leprechaun hats and green shirts were plentiful and even some of our host families from Sun Valley arrived to see us off.

The ceremony wasn't very long but it was very entertaining with lots of good music for us all to dance to. We were lucky enough to be seated behind some VIP's and got some lovely photos of us all with Timothy Shriver and two of his nephews, Tim and Jared, who were totally won over by Ben and his air guitar.

The ceremony continued with the lowering of the Special Olympics flag and the outing of the flame of hope, which was as poignant as ever and again demand for Kleenex went through the roof.

This was followed with the handing over of the Special Olympics flag  to Johanna from the GOC of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, which are to be held in Athens, Greece and they made a short presentation to us all showcasing their country, which we are all excited about. Having been in the snow for 2 weeks, a bit of sun would be good we thought.

As the ceremony drew to a close, the music was pumped up and all of the tired athletes who had entered the arena two hours earlier got a new lease of life for the dance. Volunteers, families, host families and the team danced until nearly 10pm and it was time to get back on the bus again. It's time for bed now and by the time you read this, we will be after having our first lie in two weeks and then we're off out on the town with our families for some shopping etc.

All's well that ends well and thankfully Charlie is doing OK again.

The results from the last day of competition are as follows:

Intermediate Slalom:

        Ryan Hill, 1st, 1:00.91
        Lorraine Whelan, 2nd, 1:04.80

Novice Slalom:

        Katherine Daly, 4th, 1:47.59
        Clara Keogan, 5th,  2:00.58
        Rebecca McGonagle, 3rd, 2:10.50
        Cathal Murphy, 2nd, 1:22.35
        Ben Purcell, 1st, 1:25.49
        Charlie O'Reilly, withdrawn due to illness
 

Elaine

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