Symbolic starting signal for the inclusion winter games in Bad Tölz
Created: 08/05/2022, 12:16 p.m
By: Daniel Wegscheider
The games can come: Mayor Ingo Mehner (centre) together with Herbert Kütter (left) and Dirk Raeder with the Soby flag at the Winzerer monument in Bad Tölz.
© Manfred Neubauer
Bad Tölz – With the conclusion of the "Special Olympics Bavaria" (Soby) summer games in Regensburg, the baton for the winter games was recently handed over to Bad Tölz.
As is well known, around 700 athletes with intellectual disabilities will compete there in January 2023 in ten disciplines.
Mayor Mehner travels to Regensburg for the conclusion of the Soby Summer Games
The mayor of Tölz, Ingo Mehner, and Karsten Bauer, the city council's sports officer, traveled to Regensburg on the Danube at the end of July for the closing event of the Soby Summer Games.
In the presence of Regensburg's Lord Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer, Ilse Aigner, President of the Landtag and patron of the Soby Winter Games, passed the flag on to the Tölz delegation and thus gave the go-ahead for further preparations.
The Soby flag is carried 165 kilometers from Regensburg to Bad Tölz
After the final event in Regensburg, the official flag was carried to Bad Tölz in a relay race.
Herbert Kütter and Dirk Raeder from the Lions Club brought them to the district town on the Isar on foot - they managed the 165 kilometers without any problems.
Children from the Von Rothmund school, together with Bauer and the Tölz town band, accompanied the delegation from the Lions Club on the last stretch of the way to Marktstrasse.
There, Soby board member Angelika Schlemmerl accepted the flag.
Official Special Olympics flag may only be flown at games
Mehner reports that the flag will be kept until the opening ceremony on January 23, 2023, as it can only be raised during official games.
Instead, a so-called announcement flag was hoisted at the Winzerer monument, which is intended to draw the attention of strolling citizens and guests to the upcoming major event in the coming year.
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Culture and sport together convey true joy
Ingo Mehner, Mayor of Bad Toelz
However, it is not necessarily the size of the event that inspires Mehner, but rather the "enormous happiness of the athletes and the joy of doing sports," he emphasizes when asked.
The mayor was already impressed by the exuberant atmosphere to the music in Regensburg.
Many of the athletes there danced to it.
Mehner is certain: "Culture and sport together convey true joy."
