Plane Pull May 27 - Pulling Together for ALS

May 24, 2012 - PRLog -- Pulling Together for those Affected by ALS.
One Plane. One Rope. One Great Cause.

What: ALS Ontario, in conjunction with presenting sponsor Bombardier Aerospace and The Marketing Store, will be running the second annual Plane Pull, a unique and fun competition will involve teams, consisting of 10 people, running as fast as they can in the 100-metre dash pulling a Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft weighing 17,800 kg. Fastest 100-metre dash wins!

Where: at Bombardier’s manufacturing facility (123 Garratt Blvd) in Toronto. ALS Ontario is hoping to beat the fundraising record of last year, which was over $50,000!

Why: an event to help those living with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a paralyzing neuromuscular disease (every day two to three Canadians die from ALS while each day two to three are diagnosed)

Who: Brendan Dunlop of The Score’s Footy Show and Bryan Crawford, former Toronto Argos, will MC the event. Two people with ALS will speak: Ron Martin and Tim Robertson.

When: May 27th, 2012 from 9:30-3:30:
9:30- Registration (coffee, snack)
9:30- Kid’s Zone opens
10:00- Welcome, Guest Speakers and Warm-Up
10:30- Emergency Services Division Competition (3 Firefighter teams compete)
10:50- Emergency Services Division Award Ceremony
11:00- Main Competition begins
11:30-1:00- BBQ Lunch is served
1:30- Main Plane Pull competition finishes
1:45- Raffle Draws (Kid Zone closes)
2:00- Closing Ceremonies (medals, trophy)
2:45- Gift Bags and event finished.

Richmond Hill Fire, Markham Fire and Toronto Fire have all entered teams in the event on May 27th along with 15 other teams.

“Our association learned of the connection between ALS and firefighters a few years ago and we have always felt we wanted to get involved in raising awareness of this disease,” said Mike Ogle, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association. “The Plane Pull seemed a perfect way to do it. Not enough people know about ALS. My firefighters loved the event last year. We won, and just squeaked a win over the Markham Firefighters of course, so that helped! They all thought it was a great cause and that the event is really, really unique. This year I had so many firefighters trying to volunteer to be on the Plane Pull Team. They’re really looking forward to helping out and they have also heard there are a few more firefighter teams and that there will now be a mini-competition just among EMS. That is a great idea, I think, and it will hopefully make the event even more fun for all the other non-firefighter teams.”

All money raised in this exciting event will go towards equipment and support programs for those living with ALS. http://alsont.ca/alsplanepull/

Kathryn Dunmore, Manager, Communications and Marketing, ALS Ontario
kathryn@alsont.ca Ph: (905) 248 -2101 EXT 213  Cell: (647) 343-8485