BILOXI BOUND: Special Olympics stars prepare for summer games departure with annual torch run
Published 10:38 am Thursday, May 8, 2025
- Southwest Area 7 Special Olympic athletes pose for a photo after Thursday’s torch run, holding up their finger to say “We are number one.” (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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NATCHEZ — Special athletes are heading Friday to participate in the Mississippi Special Olympics summer games at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, but not without a proper send-off by local law enforcement with their annual torch run.
Southwest Area 7 serves over 200 athletes from Adams, Amite, Jefferson, Franklin, and Wilkinson Counties in Mississippi, as well as athletes from Concordia Parish, Louisiana.
More than 30 of these athletes participated in Thursday’s torch run beginning on the Natchez bluff.
Public officials joined them, including Sheriff Travis Patten and his deputies and Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson.
“Congratulations and good luck to all of you,” Gibson said, “and bring home the gold!”
Here are more scenes from the torch run on Thursday.
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- Mercedes Costley rides to the finish line with Adams County Sheriff Office’s chief deputy Shane Daugherty in Thursday’s torch run. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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- Nathan Gaude finishes the torch run on Thursday. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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- Special athletes Mercedes Costley (holding the torch) and Joseph Geter pose for the photo with Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies after finishing the torch run Thursday on the Natchez bluff. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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- Sheriff Travis Patten gives Mercedes Costley a hug after the torch run.(Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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- Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson stops to speak with Special Olympics bound athletes and their families after the torch run on Thursday. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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- Southwest Area 7 Special Olympic athletes pose for a photo after Thursday’s torch run, holding up their finger to say “We are number one.” (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)
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