Twenty Special Olympians from the Boothbay region traveled to the 46th annual Winter Games, held at Sugarloaf on Jan. 25, 26 and 27.

Athletes were Ronda LeConte, Brenda LeConte, Matt Farnham, Donny Dunning, Joey Ranco, Danny Miller, Thomas Wilcox, Blake Chadwick, Amber Hyson, Valerie Giles, Vincent Giles, John “Piper's Son” Rankin, Kasey Graves, Logan Posey, Chloe Desjardins, Matthew Hyson, Grace Giles, Deshawn “The Beast" Averill, Anthony Angelico and Royce Rogers.

Also accompanying the athletes were helpers Lisa Pawlowski, Christy Tozier, Dylan Geyer and Ellison Boord.

The games started with the lighting of the torch, which was done by the youngest and oldest competitors. The oldest was 72-year-old James Reed of Cornish, and with him was Boothbay athlete Deshawn at age 9.

The Boothbay group won two golds, four silvers and three bronzes. They also placed fourth in seven events, fifth in five, sixth in three, seventh in two, and eight in five.

The athletes competed at varying levels between one and four depending on their skill. Ten of the athletes in Boothbay are in the top level, level 4. In the special Olympics, divisions are not made by age, only skill level.

Events during the games snowshoeing, skating and several skiing events. Some events had to be canceled as the approaching storm cut short the last day of games, which also meant the Monday night fireworks and dance were canceled.

Toby LeConte, who works in the Composite Room at BRES and coaches the Special Olympians, was pleased at the results.

“Downhill skiing events were canceled, which is something we've worked very hard on, but it is what it is,” LeConte said. “I am quite proud of them, they've worked very very hard. We expected a lot out of them, and they were able to produce a lot.”

Four athletes competed at the lowest skill level, but did amazingly.

“I was absolutely gob-smacked by how well they performed their first year out,” LeConte said.