Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

Special Olympic Athletes took full advantage of the beautiful weather Thursday as the Montana Summer games continued in Bozeman.

On one end of the Gallatin Valley you had the anxious preparations of the game's speed demons--the road cyclists.

How fast was Kalispell athlete Nathan Bunyan going to go?

"Really fast, really fast!" He repeated.

"I'm gonna go fast as an animal!" said teammate Jamey Herron.

"What kind of animal?" Reporter Dan Boyce asked.

"Like a chicken or something," she replied.

"A really fast chicken?" Dan asked.

"Yeah!"

Yet over on the flat greens of MSU, athletes were taking things nice and easy for team Bocce--the Italian yard game where you throw big balls at a little ball.

Billings Athlete Ben Lindenbaum and his ‘unified teammate' Katie Hart said this event has a mellower feel than others. So much so they didn't even need the magic of Star Wars.

"Yeah, we have to use the Force with floor hockey, basketball and such, track and field...but here we don't have to use the Force we can just relax and have fun," Lindenbaum said.

Whatever the pace, whatever the venue, the lawns and roads of Bozeman are seeing the spirit of competition.

"That's my favorite thing to do-riding!" Herron said before the start of the 10k road race.

Bozeman is also seeing the making of so many champions, which is the whole point.

The State Summer Games wrap up Friday and will be held in Billings next year.