NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The annual Law Enforcement Torch Run and Polar Plunge/Solar Splash event to benefit Kansas Special Olympics is part of Third Thursday activities this month in Hutchinson.
"Thursday, we're going to start in front of Pools Plus," said Andrew Soule with the Reno County Sheriff's Office. "Pools Plus, they are a fantastic sponsor, they help us out. We're going to start in front of the Pools Plus store there on East First. We will run down south on Main Street, all the way down to Avenue B and Main, where the pool will be set up. We'll be plunging there at 7 p.m. We'll start running at 6 p.m. and start plunging at 7 p.m."
If you'd like to be a part, you can give money that night and plunge, if you are so inclined.
"The suggested rate is $75," Soule said. "If you come up with the $75, you'd sign the waiver, we'll give you a nice, yellow, Polar Plunge/Solar Splash T-shirt that we've got in the office already and you'd be able to jump in. That's our suggestion is $75."
The Law Enforcement Torch Run started back in 1985 in Wichita and is now an international event, but the Kansas commemoration is always in the late spring prior to the state track and field meet for Special Olympics.
"That uniform can be intimidating to a lot of people," Soule said. "When we can get out there in shorts and a T-shirt and visit and run and let them see a different side of us, that goes a long way."
Soule acknowledges that the economy is a little different now than it was before COVID, but he's hoping they can raise between $5,000 and $10,000 from the event to help out Special Olympics.