Final Leg Photo Gallery access

ACCESSING THE FINAL LEG PHOTO GALLERY

The Documentation Team will, over the course of the Final Leg, take hundreds and hundreds of photos as well as video material.  Those images and videos will be uploaded by the team to a Special Olympics photo gallery site (Photoshelter).  

The uploads will be done progressively throughout the event and be available for viewing by you and your friends and family.

The photocard shown above has a QR Code that when scanned will take the user directly to the photo gallery.

Click on the photocard shown at the top of this post to download the image and place it on your phone or tablet (saved in Photos or as part of your Camera Roll).  One of the advantages of having this is that you can then share the link easily with family, friends and people that you meet during the event.

Hope this is useful

Scott

 

Release of the 2025 Final Leg Team Guide

 

RELEASE OF THE 2025 LETR FINAL LEG TEAM GUIDE

I am pleased to advise that the LETR Final Leg Team Guide has been compiled and is available for download.  This document is recommended reading for all team members.

The Team Guide is divided into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Welcome to the event
• Arriving in Turin
• Team Info  
• Team Lists (Numeric and Alphabetical)
• Team Contact List
• Team Statistics
• Accommodation
• Room Allocations
• Pairings
• Schedules
• Schedule Overview
• Daily Run Schedule
• Daily Map Routes (where we are going and how we get there)
• Cadences - the songs you sing
• Turin Arrivals (Alphabetical and Date and Time)
• Turin Departures (Alphabetical and Date and Time)

All of the documents are available in the Final Leg Portal where they can also be downloaded.  Please note that the document is 69 pages in length and almost 6mb in size.  You should consider downloading the document prior to your departure for Italy and placing it on your phone or tablet.

There are two options available to download the Team Guide:

1.  Click on the Team Guide Cover Image at the top of this blog post.
2. Go to the Final Leg Team Portal - you'll find the same image at the top of the page.

There is little doubt that I would have forgotten to include something - if this is the case, please let me know - but you've only got a few days before I depart.

Enjoy the read

Scott

Food Allergy Survey

 

DO YOU HAVE A FOOD ALLERGY?

In an effort to ensure that the food provided to Team Members during their stay in Turin, we have been asked to survey the team to determine if any members have food allergies.

With just three weeks to go before the entire team is in Turin, we need to get this information to the Local Organizing Committee as soon as possible.

If you don't have any food allergies, there is nothing further for you to do.

If however you do have allergies, please CLICK HERE to complete the survey.

Please complete the survey now - submissions will close on Sunday, 9 February at 5.00pm (Washington Time)

Thanks

Scott

New Year Reminders

 

59 DAYS TO GET EVERYTHING DONE

It is now less than 60 days before the whole Final Leg team will be assembled in Turin - preparing for the first Torch Run in Bardonecchia.

It is timely to remind everyone about some of the things that need to be completed.  Specifically, this post will be about the following:

TRAVEL NOTIFICATIONS

 PASSPORTS

PRE-EVENT CONFIRMATIONS

OPENING CEREMONY TICKETS

UNIFORM COSTS AND PAYMENTS

PRE & POST EVENT ACCOMMODATION

Let's get started

In order to be able to plan for the collection of team members arriving into Turin as well as providing transport to airports / railway stations on departure, we need to know your travel plans.  Of the 97 international members of the Final Leg team, we have received travel notifications from just 36 of you at this time.  I understand that there have been delays in arranging your travel, but you all need to get that completed as soon as possible and then complete the Travel Notifications Form.  

As well as telling us your time date and mode of travel into and out of Turin (which is used for transport arrangements) we've also asked for copies of your itineraries - this is so we can keep track of your progress should delays occur.

Click here to view the list of team members who have submitted Travel Notifications.

Click on the Travel Notification image above to complete the form.

As part of your registration for this event, we asked for passport information - this was because we predicted (correctly) that the Local Organizing Committee would want this information for their registration system.  

In many cases, team members' passports have expired since they completed their registration or they may not have had a passport at that time.

Please take the time now to check that your passport is current (and has an expiry date no earlier that 1 October 2025.  If this is the case and you recall submitting that information when registering, there is nothing more to be done.

If however, you have a new or renewed passport, please let us know.  29 team members have completed the Passport Update Form as of today.

Click here to view the list of those team members.

Click on the Passport Update image above to complete the form.

In December, we asked team members to complete a form to confirm that they were attending the pre-event activities in Athens and Rome.  There was an enormous response with 47 team members travelling to Athens and 53 being present in Rome.

Click here to view the list of those team members.

The confirmation process has now closed.

Last week, we announced that Opening Ceremony tickets for team members's families and friends were able to be requested.

To date 12 team members have requested tickets and 29 others have indicated that they don't require tickets.

Click here to view the list of those team members.

Click on the Opening Ceremony Tickets image above to complete the form.

You will all be aware that the cost of the Uniform Kit for Torch Runners is borne by their respective LETR Programs.  We've been a bit delayed this time around in working out the costs but that process will be completed very soon.  Once that occurs all Torch Runners will be advised of the cost of their Uniform Kit and how to make the payment.

You would all have seen a post by Mark McCorkle earlier this week where he advised that any team member intending on arriving in Turin early or staying afterwards could contact Nadia Giradi at the hotel to check on availability and book a room.

I did this myself this week and Nadia's response to my email was prompt.

However - I checked the price on Expedia at the same time and found the room rate was almost 30% cheaper than that offered by the hotel.

My advice is to do your research before booking.

That's it - all done

  

Opening Ceremony Tickets for Final Leg Team members' families

 

OPENING CEREMONY TICKETS

The Opening Ceremony of the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games will be held at the Pala Alpitour Stadium in Turin on Saturday, 8 March 2025.

All Final Leg Team members will be seated in the stadium for the ceremony.

An opportunity exists for team members who may have family travelling to Italy to attend the Opening Ceremony.  It is understood that the the tickets provided will be at no cost to the team member.

The Pala Alpitour Stadium is relatively small with a total capacity of 16,000 spectators and tickets are limited.  For this reason, we cannot guarantee that all ticketing requests will be met.

We have placed a limit of four tickets that a team members can request.

In order to determine the number of tickets being sought, I have created a form for you to fill out (you shouldn't be surprised by that).

I would ask that all team members complete the form - even if you do not require tickets.  That way, we will have a better idea of who has read this post and won't get surprised a week out from the event with team members suddenly asking for tickets.

Please complete the form (see link below) by Friday, 10 January.

Thanks

Scott

 ACCOMMODATION UPDATE

The Final Leg team will be staying at the NH Torino Lingotto Congress Hotel for the duration of the event.

The hotel is located at Via Nizza, 262 - in the historically-significant former Fiat automobile factory in Turin.  the hotel space was totally redesigned by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano and is a striking blend of the contemporary and the historic.

Tripadvisor reviews of the hotel are very positive:

Accommodation is generally twin share (a couple of team members are lucky and get a room to themselves).

Logistics Team members should check in to the hotel on Tuesday, 25 February 2025.

Team Leaders should check in on Wednesday, 26 February and Torch runners and Athlete Runners should arrive on Thursday, 27 February.

Check out is on Monday, 10 March.  Rooms can be arranged (at the team members' expense) for nights before and after the event. Further information about to how to make these bookings will be available shortly.

Accommodation allocations have now been completed and the lists can be accessed by clicking on the button below:

Don't hesitate to reach out to me if any errors are found in the listings (that doesn't include requests for room upgrades).

Scott

 

DELIVERY OF YOUR UNIFORM KIT

Work is currently underway to complete the embroidery and screen printing of the Final Leg Uniforms.  Once complete, the delivery process will commence.

Based on your home location and whether or not you are travelling to Athens prior to the Final Leg, your kit will be delivered to you in a different way.

US & CANADA BASED TEAM MEMBERS

If you live in the US or Canada, your Final Leg Uniform Kit will be shipped directly to you prior to your departure for the event.  It can be shipped to your home address or a work address - the choice is yours.

You need to complete the Shipping Details form as soon as possible so that we can provide the uniform supplier with accurate address information to ensure that you receive the package.

Click here to complete the Shipping Details Form

Please note that a link to this form can also be found in the Team Portal

INTERNATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS TRAVELLING TO ATHENS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FLAME LIGHTING CEREMONY

Team members (not based in the US or Canada) who have committed to travel to Athens to participate in the Flame Lighting Ceremony will be able to collect their Uniform Kit upon arrival in Athens.  

Please ensure that you have considered the additional weight of the Uniform Kit in your luggage when making onward flight bookings.

INTERNATIONAL TEAM MEMBERS NOT TRAVELLING TO ATHENS

Internationally based Team Members who are NOT travelling to Athens for the Flame Lighting Ceremony will receive their Uniform Kits upon arrival in Turin.

Please note that this includes any International Team Members intending on being in Rome for the Papal Blessing (but not in Athens).  

We will let you know when shipping to US & Canadian Team members commences.

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

 

Backgrounding Piedmont

 The purpose of this post (and others that will follow) is to introduce you to the Piedmont Region and Turin.

Piedmont is a region in the northwest of Italy, next to the border with France. The main city is Turin (Torino), which was host to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.  Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps, including the Monviso, where the Po River rises, and the Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna and Aosta Valley.

The area is justly famous for its wines, which include some of the best produced from Italy, such as Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Dolcetto and Moscato D'Asti. Its local cuisine is renowned throughout Italy and the precious white truffles of the region have been compared to gold because of their cost and delicacy.

Piedmont consists of the provinces of Alessandria, Asti, Biella, Cuneo, Novara, Turin, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Vercelli.

Click on the image below to view a YouTube video highlighting the features of Turin.