PURGATORY – Robert Mestas beamed with pride as the first-place ribbon was pinned to his jacket. Before stepping down from the podium, the Durango resident raised his right hand to his forehead and delivered a crisp salute to the roaring crowd.

Like most of the other athletes competing in Saturday’s 2011 Southwest Colorado Special Olympics Winter Games, 24-year-old Mestas is intellectually challenged. But that didn’t stop him, or anyone else for that matter, from having a blast.

The annual event at Durango Mountain Resort is a joint production of Special Olympics Colorado and the Durango Adaptive Sports Association, which has been a partner in training local Special Olympics athletes for more than two decades.

Four teams – The Cortez Skiers, Team San Juan-Telluride, Team Purgatory and The Durango Wabbits snowshoeing team – competed in the giant slalom and snowshoeing events.

Mestas, an experienced Special Olympian, carried the torch during the opening ceremonies.

Adaptive Sports volunteer Sam Ducharne said Mestas received the honor because “he’s a pretty popular guy.”

When the competition began, the two repeated a nearly nonstop circuit between the Columbine chairlift to the giant slalom course and back to the lift again.

Mestas said his favorite part of the games this year wasn’t the thrill of the race or the chance to ski with his friends. No, he said, it was “Emily,” referring to Emily Adamek, Community Connections direct support professional.

Adamek spent the morning at the bottom of the novice-level giant slalom course, recording athletes’ times. She has been working with Mestas on a near-daily basis for the last five months.

“He’s always energetic, always has something to say or do,” she said. “There’s never really a dull moment with him. ... He’s very enthusiastic about everything.”

Adamek and Ducharne were just two of an army of volunteers staffing the event. Represented were the groups Civitan International, the Snowboarder Outreach Society, Grace Preparatory Academy of Durango, Adaptive Sports and the Knights of Columbus, who served as honor guard during the opening ceremony.

“I bet we have at least 50, maybe 60 people out there, plus the Adaptive Sports people,” said Julie Fite, Special Olympics coordinator for Western Colorado.

Durango residents Mar ilyn Metz and Naty Krantz coordinated athletes at the top of the giant slalom course. Both were enjoying their first time as volunteers for the event.

“I’m a retired teacher, and I wanted to get involved with the kids again,” Metz said. “I thought this would be a good way to do it.”

Krantz, a freshman at Fort Lewis College, was fulfilling a requirement for her Adaptive Exercise class.

Coordinating the Adaptive Sports volunteers was Ann Marie Meighan, the organization’s program director.

“Getting to be up here with the Special Olympic athletes is just a blast,” she said.

Meighan said the games aren’t about who wins and who loses. Instead, it’s a celebration of all the hard work and dedication the athletes put into preparing for the games.

For six weeks leading up to the games, Adaptive Sports personnel work with the athletes.

“They get the opportunity to train for something, they work hard, and then they get to compete,” she said. “They’ve built relationships with volunteers. ... There’s a lot of joking around, a lot of playing around, and at the end of the day, it’s just a really good opportunity for them.”

A handful of the top athletes will be continuing on to the state-level games March 5-6 at Copper Mountain. Fite said seven or eight athletes from Southwest Colorado would be among the 55 or so from the Western Slope going to the state competition.

“A few guys are going to state, but we try not to put too much emphasis on that,” she said.

The way Fite sees it, everyone who competes in the games is a winner.

“You’ll see the smiles on their faces at the awards,” she said. “That’s the bomb. .... That’s pretty cool.”

pyoung@durango herald.com