After passing torch, athlete heading to China Hazlet Special Olympics participant to represent the U.S. at 2007 games BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer KAREN BOWES Hazlet's Michael McGrath passes the Special Olympics torch to Keyport Police Capt. Thomas Mitchell on Friday, on Route 35 in front of the Stop & Shop in Keyport. KEYPORT - For one special athlete, the road to the Shanghai Olympics starts on Route 35. On Friday, Special Olympics athlete Michael McGrath completed a 1.6-mile torch run along Route 35, the first leg of his long journey to the 2007 world games in Shanghai, China, slated for October. McGrath is one of only 14 Special Olympics athletes chosen to represent the United States in the world games. It was a hot and muggy start to what promises to be a career highlight for the 28-year-old. A resident of Hazlet, McGrath jogged along the steamy highway with police officers from his hometown. The entourage began at the Hazlet Multiplex and ended outside the Keyport Stop & Shop, where McGrath works as a clerk. About 30 well-wishers waited anxiously outside the supermarket for McGrath's police escorted arrival. Over an hour-and-a-half late, what was keeping him? "He's running with the police force," mother Barbara McGrath said as she squinted into the midday sun. "That's what's slowing him up." The police-sponsored torch run kicked off the New Jersey Special Olympics summer games, held in Ewing over the weekend. Beginning at the Island Beach State Park in Ocean County and ending in Perth Amboy, the overall run spanned 60 miles and included 27 legs. When McGrath finally arrived in Keyport, he looked as though he'd just taken a stroll in the park on a cool breezy day, a credit to his seven-day-a-week training. With members of the Keyport and Holmdel police departments on hand to greet him, McGrath passed the torch to Keyport Police Capt. Thomas Mitchell. Mitchell, along with a small contingent of Keyport officers, then continued on with the next leg of the run to Aberdeen. Port Authority Police Detective Lt. Robert Driscoll was present for the passing of the torch. Driscoll is a member of the Special Olympics state committee, the group that overseas the fundraising efforts of the state's many police departments. "Last year we raised $1.7 million," Driscoll said while waiting for McGrath to arrive outside the Stop & Shop. "But this is our bread and butter, what we started out doing 24 years ago." Various local companies contribute to the success of the torch run each year, Driscoll explained. The collected funds pay for such things as the athletes transportation and the recently completed sports complex in Lawrenceville. And although the torch run started in Kansas 25 years ago, it has now spread to all 50 states and 125 foreign countries, Driscoll said. "It's the only worldwide event sponsored by police departments," Driscoll said. He added, "Through our efforts, the athletes pay nothing to participate in the Special Olympics. Other states actually charge them." This is good news for McGrath. Come October, father Jim McGrath will accompany him to China. Mom Barbara says she doesn't like to fly any further than Europe. "This is great for him," said Mrs. McGrath. "It's great for his self-esteem, for him, the way he looks at himself. It's something to be really proud of. Something he'll have for the rest of his life."