Let The (Nutmeg) Games Begin ...

By Kendra Bobowick

With just a quick lick of flame the wick caught fire and gave off rippling heat and smoke as Elise DeRoo, Newtown High School track and field and cross country standout who graduated this summer, carried the Nutmeg State Games torch through a portion of Newtown Saturday afternoon.

Starting in Bridgeport and aiming for Danbury, the game torch relied on volunteers to carry it a mile or a half of a mile at a time, and eventually all the way to Danbury where the high school stadium welcomed guests to opening ceremonies this past weekend. Taking up a leg of the run in place of First Selectmen Joseph Borst, DeRoo was happy to hold the torch high as state police escorts Amedeo Carta and Bryan Martini accompanied her down Route 302 toward Boggs Hill on their motorcycles.

Torch run coordinator Lev Torgerson, who had traveled from as far away as East Haven to see the torch fall into the proper succession of hands was among those in the Newtown Police Station lot Saturday to welcome a handful of those who volunteered to carry the flame. They included Marty Ogden and Bobby Weaver of Danbury, DeRoo and Edmund Breitling of Newtown, and Moira Kenny of Sherman. The immediate group was among a much longer list of names.

As the Harley Davidson engines warmed for the torch’s runner-to-runner hand off through town, Elise’s mother, Linda DeRoo, Borst, and a collection of supporters waved her off as the first of Newtown’s team to carry the flame. Most pleased of all was Borst, who laughed, “A smart leader is the guy who picks the smartest runner,” as he paraphrased a similar saying about smart leaders being those who choose even smarter advisors. Later that afternoon in Danbury the torch touched off a larger flame in the cauldron, officially kicking off the games which actually got underway earlier in July with figure skating and gymnastics competitions.

According to NutmegState Games.org, the games are “a multi-sport festival of Olympic-style competition offering 24 different sports for Connecticut’s amateur athletes…” The games promote Olympic spirit, personal motivation, and encourage camaraderie.