Recovering Addicts Gather for Day of Sport, Support : Rehabilitation: Ten thousand former substance abusers and loved ones take part in Al-impics.

More than 10,000 recovering alcoholics, drug addicts and their loved ones, some from as far away as Canada and Argentina, gathered Saturday morning for the 20th Annual International Al-impics at College of the Canyons in Valencia.

The Al-impics, patterned loosely after the Olympics, is a day of athletic competition, with sports ranging from track to volleyball, weightlifting to golf. There are less strenuous competitions in backgammon, chess, cards and other games. Recovering addicts and their families participate.

The daylong event opened with a parade on the college stadium track to the deafening cheers of an exuberant crowd. About 90 recovery centers and rehabilitation clinics were represented, the groups identifying themselves with matching T-shirts.

The participants and audience recited the Serenity Prayer, the principal philosophy for most addiction recovery programs.

The voices of 10,000 melted into one voice resonating in the hollow stadium. Some in the crowd tightly clutched hands as they recited: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

A passionate rendition of the national anthem followed.

Many participants said it was comforting to be surrounded by thousands of other people also struggling to overcome an addiction.

“Seeing everyone here today makes everything light up,” said Tim Swift of the Amends Center of Long Beach. “It makes you feel like you’re not alone.”

“Who’d ever think a bunch of drug addicts would get together and be smiling?” joked Mickie Perez, a 21-year-old recovering drug addict and alcoholic from Pathway of San Jose.

Breaking out of isolation is important for a recovering alcoholic, said event founder Kurt Freeman, executive director for the Antelope Valley Rehabilitation Centers.

Freeman organized the first Al-impics event in 1973 as a research project for his master’s thesis. The event, which included only track events, was so small that it was held in a dry creek bed at the Warm Springs center in the Antelope Valley.

“I felt I needed to provide activities, both physical and social, to enhance self-esteem for alcoholics to get addicted to,” he said.

It was such a success that he has coordinated it every succeeding year, with the help of volunteers.

Valerie Shephard of the Alcoholism Center for Women in Los Angeles was one of many who brought her children to the event.

“They’re a big part of my sobriety,” the 31-year-old Los Angeles resident said. “They were in on my drinking and using, and this is the other side.”

Her 8-year-old son, Marquis Hilliard, beamed at his mother as he stood on the winner’s stand while an official pinned a first-place medal for the children’s 100-yard dash on his lavender T-shirt.

Even the adults took pride in their winnings.

“This lets me know I’m best in something,” said Athena Dixon of the Mary Lind Foundation in Los Angeles. The 25-year-old took first place in the women’s 880-yard run.

Second-place winner Tracy Thompson, 26, said winning put her on a natural high.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said. “To be able to run and be a part of a group of people who are not high gives me goose bumps.”