SPECIAL OLYMPICS - Special effort at champs

Putting a smile on the dial of the country's "special" athletes became a Northland challenge this weekend.
The Northern Regional Special Olympics Athletics championships were held at Whangarei Boys High School at the weekend with athletes, including some from Waikato, seeking to qualify for the nationals in Palmerston North in December or just up here to compete and have a good time among their peers.
There were 29 competitors in action at the weekend, with heats and some finals on Saturday and the rest of the finals yesterday.
Most of the people who get involved with organising these events and volunteering their time on the day have children who are mentally disabled, one of the organiser's Andrew Langford said.
"My daughter was born with Downs syndrome and we were invited along in 1988 and I'm still here today but it can be very hard getting enough people to help out," he said.
Langford said the common misconception was that the Special Olympics and the Paralympics were the same thing.
"We've got nothing to do with the Paralympics. Our events are for people with special needs. They don't have the same mental ability as people who are physically disabled," he said.
Athletics is just one of 16 sports the New Zealand Special Olympics organisation has on its books. A group of New Zealand athletes has just returned home from the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Idaho in the United States with two gold medals, five silver and one bronze.
Langford estimates there are up to 60 special athletes who compete in different sports in the Whangarei area, including the most popular sports: athletics, swimming and 10-pin bowling.
"Some of them want to play every sport they can, whereas others just enjoy playing one," he said.
Athletes competing at the Whangarei Regional Games will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of local athlete Mokai Ropitini, who attended the 2007 Special Olympics Summer Games in Shanghai. The next summer games is in 2011.