Police, athletes carry Special Olympics torch across Lake County

Special Olympians and police officers jogged together across more than 30 miles of wet pavement in Lake and northern Cook counties Sunday for the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Illinois.

The 36-mile trot from Gurnee to Lincolnwood raised money and awareness for the athletes set to compete in the Special Olympics Illinois Summer Games, which begin Friday in Normal.

"We have been doing this for almost 30 years now," Kildeer Police Chief Steve Balinski said. "The reason we do this is to recognize the special athletes that participate in Special Olympics.

"To be able to mingle with the athletes, you cry with them and you laugh with them, you become a special partner with them," he added.

Starting at 6:31 a.m. at Milwaukee and Grand avenues in Gurnee, the torch - called the Flame of Hope - was carried through Libertyville, Lincolnshire, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, Northbrook, Prospect Heights, Northfield, Glenview, Niles and Skokie, until it finally ended at Poesel Park in Lincolnwood.

The tour through Lake County was just one leg of a 23-leg journey that will involve about 3,000 officers carrying the Flame of Hope nearly 1,500 miles through thousands of Illinois communities on the way to its final destination in Normal.