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Friday 11 October 2024

Running Routes & Other Information

 

Running Routes and Other Information

Happy Fall,

I'm sure many of you - minus our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, Carribean, Hawaii, and other warm locales - are beginning to experience the signs of Fall. Leaves are dropping, morning temps are a little chillier, and it's about time to break out sweatshirts.

It also means we are getting ever closer to our trip to Italy. I know I've said it before, but it's worth repeating; it probably seems to many of you that nothing is going on, but I can assure you that there's a whole bunch of folks working incredibly hard behind the scenes to make this a spectacular Final Leg. 

Normally, you would have known virtually everything there is to know about the Final Leg by now, but the late start in planning has resulted in a shortage of information to share. However, that translates into the fact that very shortly, we will be flooding you with information and tasks to complete - like drinking from a fire hose. We will have some incredibly tight deadlines, so we will need your absolute full cooperation. 

Running Routes

The LOC has begun providing us draft running routes, and so far, they look fantastic. We will be experiencing everything northern Italy has to offer. As we've said before, we likely will be running over plenty of cobblestones, so sturdy running shoes are a must.

Uniform Kits

Our uniform kits should be finalized next week. We are very fortunate to have such a great relationship with Columbia Sportswear, which means you know our gear will be of the highest quality.

We will be doing all of our runs wearing a "jogger" style pant. They are fairly light weight and very comfortable. We strongly recommend you bring a thermal undergarment for those days that are very cold. For those cold days, I really like the brand 32-Heat. It provides a nice extra layer but is also thin. We will provide another reminder of "what to bring" when we get a little closer to go time.

We will have multiple layered options as well, with vests, half-zips, hoodies, beanies and gloves, so we should be prepared for anything Mother Nature has to throw at us.

If you live in the United States, Canada, or are participating in Athens, we will be shipping your gear directly to you. All other team members will get their kits when they arrive at the hotel in Turin.

Team Meeting

As soon as we get the go ahead to start booking flights, we'll schedule another full team meeting to make sure we're all on the same page. We promise you an absolutely life-changing experience!

Until then, KEEP RUNNING and stay safe!







Tuesday 8 October 2024

Re-launch of the Final Leg Team Portal


RE-LAUNCH OF THE FINAL LEG TEAM PORTAL


The next time that you jump onto the LETR website and decide to have a look at the Final Leg Team Portal, you will hopefully be pleasantly surprised that the site has been refreshed (although not quite complete yet) and its' focus has changed from being a place where information was collected from you to one where information about the event will be stored and displayed.

The Team Portal now has the following sections:

  • TORCH RUNS
  • FINAL LEG SCHEDULE
  • FINAL LEG BLOG
  • POLAR PLUNGE
  • ATHENS & ROME
  • MEET THE TEAM
  • ON THE GROUND
  • GENERAL INFORMATION
As I said earlier, the site is not yet complete.  There is no content in the ON THE GROUND or GENERAL INFORMATION sections and limited info in the TORCH RUNS and FINAL LEG SCHEDULE sections.  But that will only expand as we move closer to February (a mere 4 months away).

There are two ways for you to access the Portal - you can go to the Final Leg website and navigate to the FINAL LEGS section then click on the Portal button - or you can go directly - https://letr-finalleg.org

Either way you will be presented with a splash screen showing the circle logo you see at the top of this post.  Click on that logo to enter the Portal - you will need to know the PIN Code of course.

Did you know that the first Final Leg for a Special Olympics World Games was held in 1987.

That's a pretty significant 4 digit date to remember and use.

I'd like to think that the Portal is fairly easy to navigate - one tip is when you are on a sub-page (Meet the Team as an example) and you want to return to the main page of the Portal - you just need to scroll to the top of the page and click on the TEAM PORTAL banner.

I am away travelling for the next couple of weeks and won't be doing any further work to the Portal until I return - however if you have any ideas, comments or questions about the Portal, drop me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

I hope the creation of this site will start to put some meat on the bones of the experience ahead of you all.

Scott



 

Monday 7 October 2024

Fundraising Update #1


Update #1    

Just a few fundraising thoughts. Some of you may have never asked anyone to donate money before. This is the perfect chance because people and businesses like to donate to the great combination of Special Olympics and Law Enforcement. As we all know we can’t take gifts from people doing our cop jobs but people donating to the Law Enforcement Torch Run on your behalf is a different story. The first time you ask someone to donate is the hardest and then you will realize that rarely people say no. Being the Final Leg runner that was handpicked from your state or country is all the more reason they will want to donate. We all need to capitalize on this because it is truly a special honor. For example, you can tell people, post on social media or write a letter stating that “I was the only police officer chosen from the State of Missouri and I am taking this opportunity to raise some money for Special Olympics.  

Special shout out to our team member from Kentucky, Chuck Adams, who secured a $10,000 donation. Great job Chuck.

While it is absolutely voluntary to seek donations, it is such a great opportunity to benefit your local program and the LETR Final Leg.

Upcoming Goals: It would be great to get every team member to personalize their fundraising page with a photo and some individual info. This is a great place to tell your LETR Special Olympics story. Toot your own horn, you have earned it. Even if you don’t plan on doing any fundraising you never know someone might see your page and decide to donate.

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Thanks for reading this. 

 

Bill.