Arrivederci, Italy!
Ian Wyman, SONH Director of Local Programs, worked closely with Scott as he prepared for his trip to the Winter World Games in Turin, Italy. We are happy to share Ian’s write up about Scott’s experiences.
After 13 days in Italy, Scott landed back in the US on March 16th with the Special Olympics USA delegation and made it back to New Hampshire on March 17th.
“No more snow, planes or trains for a little bit,” Scott said, while waiting for his checked bags with me in the airport. “I’m ready to head right home and sleep for a couple days straight!” But, he quickly added he wouldn’t mind if we stopped for Italian food on the way back home!
Scott McCullough and Laconia Police Officer RJ Bassett represented New Hampshire, and Special Olympics USA the past couple weeks in Turin, Italy at the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games. RJ arrived about a week before Scott, to get ready to run in the Law Enforcement Torch Run legs that would carry the Torch from Athens, to the Vatican – where it was blessed by a Cardinal – through Piedmont, then to Opening Ceremonies, where over 1,500 athletes from 98 delegations would be waiting to kick off the Games. RJ ran in several legs ranging from a half-mile to 2.5 miles over 5 days. Before the police headed into Opening Ceremonies, he had the chance to find Scott and quickly catch up.
Following Opening Ceremonies, sports teams began traveling across Italy to their competition venues, where they would live and train for a few days prior to competition. Scott and the snowshoe team made the 3-hour train journey from Turin to Sestriere, trading 60 degrees and sunny weather for 10 degrees with wind and snow.
After 3 days of training and divisioning competition, Scott began the medal rounds of competition on Thursday March 13th. Here are the results from competition:
| Fri Mar 14 | 4x100m Relay, M02, Final | 01:43.58 | 3rd Place – Bronze Medal |
| Fri Mar 14 | 100m, M12, Final | 00:27.56 | 3rd Place – Bronze Medal |
| Thu Mar 13 | 200m, M14, Final | 01:46.43 | 7th Place – Place Ribbon |
| Wed Mar 12 | 4x100m Relay, M02, Divisioning | 01:42.93 | |
| Wed Mar 12 | 100m, M14, Divisioning | 00:30.84 | |
| Tue Mar 11 | 200m, M11, Divisioning | 01:36.28 |
On Thursday, Scott had an off-day during competition. He said he almost lost motivation to finish the race – from the grueling schedule, all the travel, the altitude and weather averaging 12 degrees Fahrenheit. After the race, he told himself to stay strong and push through it, and remember all of the people who helped him back in New Hampshire. He said, “I need to make them proud, and owe myself to try my hardest. I can’t waste the year of training I have worked on.”
“I need to make them proud, and owe myself to try my hardest. I can’t waste the year of training I have worked on.”
The next day during his final competitions, he said he pushed as hard as he could and found another gear. From 01:46.43 during his 200m, he shaved his 100m time down to 00:27.56, and took home a bronze medal in the 100m and the 4x100m relay to round out his Special Olympics World Winter Games. “I was really tired, but was really proud of myself for sticking with it.”
That evening, Sestriere saw temperatures near negative 6 degrees. The Special Olympics USA snowshoe team decided to skip the Closing Ceremonies in person and instead watched on TV. While watching, they had some great time to bond and talk, where they all exchanged contact information, took plenty of pictures, and revisited their favorite memories from the week.
In addition, Scott also collected handfuls of pins from dozens of Special Olympic programs and athletes from across the globe – and handed out plenty of USA pins and New Hampshire trading cards himself. Scott couldn’t pick one single experience that was the most memorable, but he kept coming back to all the people he met from around the world, including his teammates from across the country.
Now home in New Hampshire – completely exhausted and sore, he couldn’t stop talking about the great experiences he had, and how celebratory, inspiring, and positive everyone was. In between bites of his takeout Italian food we got on the way home, he said, “I’m so tired, but so proud!”
“I was really tired, but was really proud of myself for sticking with it.”
