Special Olympics of Washington cancels snow events at Mission Ridge

WENATCHEE, Wash. -- Special Olympics of Washington has decided to cancel the alpine skiing and snowboarding events that are held each year at Mission Ridge Ski and Board Resort, it was announced Friday.

Sam Chapin, the marketing manager for Mission Ridge said, "We are disappointed by the difficult decision to cancel skiing and snowboarding that the folks at the Special Olympics have made. The bottom line for them is that the majority of the athletes have been unable to train at their home mountains and are not prepared to compete at the State level this year."

"In the best interest of our athletes and the quality of the state competition, unfortunately Special Olympics Washington has decided to cancel the alpine/snowboarding competition at Winter Games," said Dan Wartelle, Special Olympics Washington vice president of communications.

"Needless to say, this was a very tough decision. We took in to account many factors, lack of training being the most important."