by Ann L. Brueggemann
The 4 x 100M relay team that competed for Special Olympics Panama at the First Special Olympics Latin America Games — Edwin Araúz, Alberto Díaz, Braulio Cruz and Agustín Guerrel — hails from three different provinces and met for the first time at the four-day staging and training camp in Panama City prior to traveling to El Salvador.
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The 4 x 100M relay team that competed for Special Olympics Panama at the First Special Olympics Latin America Games paused for a photo at Rommel Fernández Stadium in Panama City, where they participated in a four-day staging and training camp. [Photo by Ann L. Brueggemann] |
Coach Roderick Biddy explained that they had all been on gold-medal relay teams in each of their provinces, and were then selected at random to compete on Panama’s composite relay team at the Latin America Games. By the end of the first day of training at Rommel Fernández Stadium in Panama City, they got to know each other’s name, town and province of origin, practiced the finer points of baton passing, and paused for a photo during warm-up. They also identified Edwin, who hails from Chiriquí in western Panama, as the live wire of the foursome!
Athletics competitions at the Latin America Regional Games were held in San Salvador’s Mágico González Stadium, with its beautiful, newly resurfaced track. 173 athletes from 12 countries competed in 18 track and field events over the course of the week. In the exciting 100-meter relay finals, Agustín, Alberto, Braulio and Edwin achieved 5th place in a very close race — their time was just 2.5 seconds behind the first place finishers.
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