Special Olympics Oregon’s Winter Games for snow sports, staged annually at Mt. Bachelor ski area for more than a quarter of a century, will not be held in 2018. The two-day event, which this year drew about 200 Special Olympians and 100 coaches from across the state, is typically held in late February or early March.

Chad Carter, the senior director of marketing and communications for Special Olympics Oregon (SOOR), told The Bulletin that the championships were suspended because fundraising has not keep pace with the rising number of participants and cost of hosting the games. Athletes do not pay to take part in Special Olympics, and in past years the organization has paid for transportation, lodging, food and lift tickets associated with the Bachelor event. Portland’s KGW-TV reported the estimated cost of hosting the games in 2018 was $175,000.

Carter said the 11 SOOR chapters that offer snow sports (which include downhill skiing and snowboarding, nordic skiing and snowshoe racing) will continue to offer training in those disciplines at their local mountains this winter, but without the season-concluding competition at Mount Bachelor. Twenty-three athletes from the High Desert chapter, which encompasses Deschutes and Crook County, participated in the snow sports program last winter.

Basketball and powerlifting programs will be offered as usual. Although athletes are typically allowed to compete in just one Special Olympics sport per season, Carter said snow-sport athletes will also be allowed to participate in basketball or powerlifting this winter.

Carter said SOOR intends to bring back the snow sports Winter Games in 2019.

—Reporter: 541-383-0305, vjacobsen@bendbulletin.com