CARRABASSETT VALLEY – When Crosby Fletcher and his teammates from the Charlotte White Center arrived at Sugarloaf/USA on Sunday, they paid close attention to the athletic field at Carrabassett Valley Academy.

Fletcher, 46, is a snowshoer, you see. And when the Special Olympics Maine Winter Games got under way Monday morning, the LaGrange man knew exactly where he’d be standing.

And he wasn’t very happy.

“We got here last night and it was bare,” Fletcher said.

On Monday, however, Fletcher was eager to compete: Three inches of fresh powder had coated the once icy field that serves as the snowshoe course. That gave the perpetually smiling Olympian something new to grin about. Not that he really needed anything new to grin about.

In an event that features hundreds of smiling faces and thousands of sincere “good luck” wishes, Fletcher still stands out.

Proudly attired in the official Charlotte White Center uniform – a spiffy green, blue and black hat and matching scarf – Fletcher had a smile for everybody, a hug for most (especially the women), and greeted each fellow competitor like a long-lost friend – which they probably were.

“Hey, buddy!” he said about once a minute, shaking hands and hugging pals as a steady stream of athletes worked their way toward the starting line. “Hey, buddy!”

But when it came time to race, Fletcher also showed a competitive streak and said he had high hopes for The Games.

“I want to see the dust,” he said, apparently figuring that the new powder would leave a pretty nifty wake as soon as he started churning down the track.

Competition in the 37th annual Winter Games began Monday and will conclude today.

Everywhere you looked, athletes were busily preparing to do their best.

William Parmenter, a 36-year-old from Dover-Foxcroft, shared his snowshoeing secrets before competing in the 50-meter qualifying race.

“You’ve got to keep on eating iron and moving on,” he said, his ice-blue eyes focused on the task at hand.

“I’m bringing home the gold,” Parmenter said. “I told my pastor yesterday that I was bringing home the gold.”

Medals will be awarded today, but on Monday, athletes had a chance to limber up and post qualifying times for the finals.

As in any athletic event, not everything went as planned. But that didn’t dim the enthusiasm of the athletes.

Chad Richardson, 25, of Dover-Foxcroft encountered a bit of difficulty during the grueling 100-meter snowshoe sprint.

About halfway through the race, as other competitors began to pull away, disaster struck.

“I said, ‘See you later, guys,'” Richardson recounted.

And then he fell. Eventually, he got back up and completed his race. But the grinning Richardson admitted that he thought twice about his plan of action while lying in the snow.

“[I thought] I might lay here and take a nap,” he said with a laugh.

Roland Wilson, a 46-year-old from Dover-Foxcroft, finished third in his time trial heat in the 100-meter snowshoe race, but was philosophical about the result.

The other racers were good, he said. And he might not even have to compete against them in the finals.

But if he did?

“Tomorrow, I’m gonna go and kick some tail,” he said before quickly remembering what the Special Olympics stand for and what a true Olympian should have said.

“Even if I don’t win, it’s [about] the sport and competing and having fun,” Wilson said, starting over. “When you come up here, you don’t want to have poor sportsmanship, like fighting and getting mad and stuff.”

At the Special Olympics, racing is fun. The food, Wilson says, is fantastic. And while some might look at nearby Carrabassett Valley Academy and see the former school of American ski star Bode Miller, many Special Olympians see nothing of the sort.

To them, the school serves as a port in the storm while they take part in snowshoe races. It serves as a warming hut.

It serves as – well, let’s let Wilson tell you.

“That’s the hot chocolate place,” he said to a fellow competitor before ambling off to sample a cup of the warming brew and make plans for the rest of his day.

Over at the cross-country skiing venue, the Rockland District High School team gathered as a group, raced as a group and supported one another as a group.

Samantha Herring, a 20-year-old taking part in the 500-meter race, set a deliberate but determined pace during her two laps around the groomed course.

She soon lost track of speedier teammates as they moved ahead and finished.

After finishing her first lap and beginning her second, Herring looked down the long straightaway that faced her and shared her feelings with a nearby photographer.

“So close, but yet so far,” she said between labored breaths.

A few minutes later, as Herring neared the finish line, the rest of her Rockland teammates spread out on the home stretch to welcome their teammate.

The other Tigers had completed their laps around the course, but they were far from finished. Not while their teammate needed encouragement.

The cheers grew louder. Herring’s face lit up. As the finish line grew closer, her tired legs began to churn faster … faster … fastest.

Then, finally, she was done, with more than a little help from her friends.

The race was only 500 meters, she said, but it felt more like 1,000. That didn’t mean that she didn’t have fun.

“I really enjoyed myself,” Herring said.

And Herring realized she hadn’t been alone in her efforts.

“That felt really good to have all my teammates cheering for me,” she said, gesturing to the crowd of skiers and thanking them as they filed past, heading for another warming hut, another port in the storm – and another cup of hot chocolate.

“That’s what kept me going,” she said.