Police run raises funds for Special Olympics

By Lethbridge Herald on September 19, 2023.

Herald photo by AL BEEBER Lethbridge Police Service Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh escorts 89-year-old Marion Greenway and 88-year-old Lil Colwill Saturday on the five-kilometre route of the 2023 LPS Run in support of the Special Olympics on Saturday. They were the oldest participants to complete the event.

Al Beeber
LETHBRIDGE HERALD

The Special Olympics are near and dear to the heart of city senior Marion Greenway. So on Saturday along with 88-year-old friend Lil Colwill, the 89-year-old city resident walked hand-in-hand with Lethbridge Police Service chief Shahin Mehdizadeh on the LPS run for the Special Olympics.

The three walked the five-kilometre part of the run which also included a 10K event. The sold-out event had 650 people running or walking a route on a sunny warm Saturday morning.

Greenway and Colwill also do the Terry Fox run each year but took a break rather than do two walks in two days.

Greenway said she was walking in memory of her son.

“It’s very special,” Greenway said of the Special Olympics movement.

Greenway’s son Ryan suffered a brain injury in his teens while playing football and he joined the Special Olympics movement, competing in sports such as bowling and disc throwing. He died at the age of 49 and his mom signed up after seeing word of the run on Facebook.

Colwill has a personal connection with the Special Olympics, as well. Her nephew and wife adopted a child with Down Syndrome and that child is also involved with the organization.

For Mehdizadeh, the run “is all about raising money for our Special Olympics.”

Mehdizadeh said he reminds everyone in the service every day that they are public servants and “anything we can do to make life better for our citizens across the city that’s our mandate. It doesn’t need to be handcuffs on people all the time.”

The chief, before the run began, told the crowd that a successful event takes a lot of work by a lot of people in the community including sponsors, volunteers and participants themselves who do “a really good deed for a really great cause.”

“Thank you very much for doing this every year and supporting a great cause,” the chief added.

He called walking with Greenway and Colwill a privilege, joking that he was hoping he could keep pace with them.

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