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Keith McCord ReportingSpecial Olympics athletes from all over the country are in Iowa tonight, preparing for the USA National Special Olympic Games. Competition gets underway tomorrow; but today was arrival day as more than 3,000 athletes descended on Des Moines, Iowa. And the story of how they got there is quite impressive.
Des Moines International Airport was a very busy place today, with several hundred business jets coming in for a landing every 60-seconds or so. On board were several thousand Special Olympics athletes, and a big group came from Utah.
At Salt Lake International today, a group of 35 athletes and a dozen coaches got on board three Cessna Citation jets. The athletes will join 3,500 others from all over the country, for the first-ever "USA National Special Olympics Games" in Ames, Iowa.
The Utah group attended a send-off luncheon yesterday, where all the coaches and athletes were introduced. During the week-long competition at Iowa State University, the athletes will compete in 12 different sports--everything from basketball and soccer to Bocci ball.
Todd Hughes: "What do you think of your chances at the national competition?"
Tyler Fox, Special Olympian: "It's going to be intense. We've been practicing a lot and I hope we do good."
Tyler Bundy is talking with pilot Todd Hughes, of Hughes General Contractors, one of three Utah companies providing their Cessna Citations to fly the athletes to and from the games, at no charge!
Dan Pratt, Vice Pres., Hughes General Contractors: "This is our second airlift that we've participated in. I think the last one was in 1999."
For a number of years, Cessna has coordinated this Special Olympics "Airlift". This year, 230 companies are donating their planes, pilots and fuel to make sure these athletes can compete in the national competition. It was a wild scene at the Des Moines airport today.
Dan Pratt, VP Hughes General Contractors: "Because these kids are great. And I say kids, because they're young at heart and they invigorate all of us. It's just a great feeling to be around them."
The athletes and their parents and coaches appreciate the effort of the Cessna pilots. Now they can concentrate on the week-long competition.
For some of these kids, it's the first time they've ever been on a plane. And next weekend, after the competition ends, all those pilots and all those planes will go back to Des Moines airport, and pick 'em up and bring 'em home!
