Athletes, coaches, parents and supporters came together to celebrate the year that was.

The celebration was also about looking to the future with three athletes set to fly out to the Asia Pacific Games hosted in Newcastle later this week.

Swimmer Tara Smith and ten-pin bowlers Sally Brockley-Moon and Francis Bush will represent Australia at the games.

Special Olympics chair Pam Ferrari said she was proud of not only the Pacific Games athletes but of all of the competitors.

“It has been a fantastic year,” she said.

“This year we have raised the profile of Special Olympics and we are all very proud of that.”

Bendigo Special Olympics head coach Michele Berryman-Cooper described 2013 as an awesome year.

“We have been publicly acknowledged,” she said.

“We have had support from corporate and private people.

“In general, Bendigo has been fantastic.”

Ms Berryman-Cooper said it was great to see so many people finally get behind the Special Olympics team.  

“The team has been around for more than 20 years and I still get people telling me that they didn’t know it existed,” she said.

This year athletes competed in a number of state and regional events including travelling to Canberra twice.

“We were invited to the Centennial Games in Canberra, which was really exciting because people from all over Australia were there, they even had Japanese athletes there, it was marvellous,” Ms Berryman-Cooper said.  

“We came home with gold.”

Ms Berryman-Cooper said one of the highlights of the year was taking part in the Bendigo Easter Parade. 

"The parade was a big moment for us because we got four new athletes from that, from just walking down the street," she said. 

Ms Berryman-Cooper now has her sights set on hosting an important event in Bendigo next year.

“The ultimate goal was to run our own regional games which is what we are now doing in July,” she said.  

“It is the first time that is happening in over 10 years.

“It is a wonderful achievement.”

Ms Ferrari also said she had plans to add more sports to the Bendigo Special Olympics repertoire. 

"We are looking at adding bocce to the sports we offer," she said. 

kristen.alebakis@fairfax
media.com.au