ATHENS TOWNSHIP, PA (WENY) -- The Valley community welcomed back their World Special Olympian gold medalist, Izaak Hobday, with a celebration to remember, Thursday evening, at the Athens Area High School. 

The celebration was filled with smiles and countless hugs. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” was blasting from Alumni Stadium’s speakers as Hobday walked out to the field to celebrate his accomplishments with his friends and family. 

“I am super proud of him,” Denise Hibbard, the grandmother of Hobday, said. “It's hard to put it in words. He's accomplished more than we ever dreamed...possible.” 

Hibbard went to Berlin, Germany with her grandson for the Special Olympics World Summer Games, last week. She watched Hobday put everything he had into training, every day, before witnessing him compete at the international level. 

Hobday said he was not thinking about the end results in Germany. All he wanted to do was run. 

“I was happy,” he said. “If I didn't win...it's just for fun.” 

Luckily, all Hobday did was win. Hobday captured both the gold and silver medals at the Games. He became a gold medalist in the 1500-meter race with a time of 05:26:15, and a silver medalist in the 5000-meter race with a time of 21:30:06. 

Hibbard said the moment she realized her grandson was going to take home the gold, she started celebrating his accomplishments, immediately. 

“I was screaming my head off...and luckily, he can black everybody out when he's running...but, I was just screaming,” she said. “It... was so emotional and an awesome feeling to be able to be there...and to witness it.”  

For those who could not be there, they made up for it by welcoming the gold medalist home with a celebration to remember. Athens Township Supervisor Chairperson, Tressa Heffron, was Hobday’s fifth grade teacher. Heffron wanted to make his homecoming extra special with a proclamation. 

“I knew that today was going to be...this parade for Izaak and I said, 'You know, maybe we should just declare the day...his day,’” she said. 

Cheers echoed in the stadium as Heffron read the proclamation to Hobday in the middle of the field. 

“The ward of supervisors of Athens Township hereby proclaims June 29th, 2023, as ‘Izaak Hobday Day’ in honor of his hard work, dedication, and contributions to the Valley community,” she said. 

Now, Hobday has decided to literally hit the ground running. He said he is already looking forward to competing in the 2027 Special Olympics World Games, set to take place in Australia.