Police and others to carry Special Olympics torch in run Thursday in Ripon

A leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run to benefit Special Olympics Northern California will be held in Ripon on Thursday morning. Members of the Ripon Police Department, along with city staff members and Alcoholic Beverage Control agents, will participate.

At 7 a.m. at the Ripon Arch on South Stockton Avenue, officers begin a run of nearly 20 miles, according to a news release from the Police Department.

After a large group run through Ripon’s historic downtown, team members will make their way though the county until the run ends with a welcome from staff at Deuel Vocational Institute. There, the torch will be passed on, to be carried by other agencies, culminating in its arrival at the Northern California Special Olympics.

More than 3,500 law enforcement personnel from federal, military, state, county and local agencies are participating in the Torch Run fundraising campaign, according to Ripon police. Wednesday, law enforcement officers carried the torch in Merced, starting at the University of California campus and running north to Atwater.

The Summer Games will be held June 23-25 at the University of California at Davis. About 1,000 Special Olympics athletes and their coaches are expected to attend, competing in bocce, swimming, tennis and track and field events in state-of-the-art collegiate athletic facilities.

To learn more, go to www.sonc.org.

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Police and others to carry Special Olympics torch in run Thursday in Ripon."