Howard County's Worley twins are Special Olympics standouts

Mark and Bruce, like all Special Olympics Maryland athletes in this weekend's event, have completed the two county events required to qualify. On Wednesday, the last practice before Saturday's competition, John bounds up and down the home straightaway, barking out encouragement and advice to three of the four athletes on the 1,600-meter relay (one was absent) who practice baton passes.

"Try shuffling your feet," John suggested. "Then you drive your elbow forward to power into the stride."

Mark and Bruce run in a pair, and though their running styles differ slightly — Mark churns his entire body more while Bruce's strides appear longer — little separates the two. The twins say they've always been neck-and-neck, in races and in life. When Mark joined Special Olympics, Bruce did, too. When Bruce got a job at Howard County General Hospital, Mark did, too.

"If he speeds up, I speed up," Bruce said. "It's so close."

Mark — runner, hospital worker and World Games bronze medalist — speeds up down the final straightaway, and Bruce gives chase. The two younger runners wait on the starting line for the baton.

With a shuffle and a drive of the elbow, the runners, Thomas Logue and Jessie Carico, take off, and though this is just baton practice and they're not supposed to go more than a few meters, they keep on running. They round the turn and they're still going, and not even the amused shouts of John can bring them back as they take flight down the backstretch.

"Hey," John said with a shrug. "That's a good thing."

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