Torch Run for Special Olympics kicks off at Rice Wednesday morning

Torch Run for Special Olympics kicks off at Rice Wednesday morning

If you see fire in the Academic Quad Wednesday morning, don’t pull the alarm.  It’s most likely a flame for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.

The Gulf Coast leg of the relay to Arlington, Texas, kicks off from the Rice campus May 21 after an 8 a.m. news conference in quad. Among the speakers will be Houston City Council member Adrian Garcia; Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt; and Christine Victory, a Special Olympics athlete and global messenger.

Members of the Rice University Police Department (RUPD) and officers from other local law enforcement agencies will run a torch across the campus to Rice stadium, where they will board motor homes and head to the University of Texas at Arlington to participate in the opening ceremonies for the Special Olympics Texas Summer Games. Along the way they will be joined by local police officers as they run the torch a few miles in the participating communities between Houston and Arlington.