THE BEGINNING:
Once again Bretton Woods will be hosting the 6th Annual Vertical Challenge for Brain Injury Awareness on January 24, 2009. Last year’s event raised over $24,000 to support soldiers and their families who are living with a brain injury or stroke. Funding from this years event will also go to support soldiers, New Hampshire residents and their families.
The format will remain the same with teams of 4 competing to complete the most vertical that day. Prizes will be awarded for the most vertical, most money raised, check points and once again the grand prize will be a random drawing. All you need to do is show up to be eligible for this prize!
Last year, 21 teams participated and competition was tight regarding funds raised. The Ski Gulls brought in the most with just over $2,200 with Valerie’s Valor close behind at just over $2,000. Who will be the top fundraiser this year? On the vertical side, Alseres #8 came in first with 128 runs. Will they retain their title or will the Usta Bees, who came in second with 97 runs, take the honors? We’ll just have to wait and see!
Remember that holding the event at Bretton Woods allows participants to have access to the available adaptive ski equipment. If you are in need of such equipment please download the forms from the website and send them to Sandy Olney, Bretton Woods Adaptive Program, Route 302, Bretton Woods, NH 03575.
See you at Bretton Woods on January 24th!
THE END:
On Saturday, January
24, 2009, fifteen teams, consisting of 60 skiers, participated in the 6th
Annual Vertical Challenge for Brain Injury Awareness at the Bretton Woods Resort
in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. To sum it all up, it was a success!
This year’s event brought in over $20,000 which will go directly to support our
servicemen and women who are living with a brain injury or stroke.
Team members showed great enthusiasm before the event in raising their pledges and the monetary race was on as to which team would bring in the most amount. Four teams broke the $1,000 pledge mark with two of those bringing in amounts just shy of $2,000. All-ways Accessible supported the Challenge with $1,151; NHMS-Full Tilt brought in $1,400; Seacoast Ski Gulls pledged $1,962; and MPZ Landscaping held the lead with $1,970. As an incentive, Bretton Woods awarded these 4 members with lift tickets to be used at the Resort. What great efforts made by all teams participating in this year’s event!
Sporting thick gloves, goggles, helmets, heavy jackets and other assortments of layered clothing to withstand the artic winds, skiers headed to the slopes around 8:30 AM to compete in as many vertical runs as possible until the cut-off time of 12:30 PM. Teams Bee Men and Woman and Usta Bees tied the vertical run with 86 challenging runs each. However, the most exhilarating of all was team Zoe Veasey #1 with a total of 123 runs! These team members were also awarded lift tickets to be used at the Resort.
After closing the vertical runs at 1:00 PM, team members and volunteers were rewarded a well-deserved lunch of pasta, salad and garlic bread. Erin Hall, Event Coordinator, announced all the raffle prizes and awards to participants. The grand prize drawing of a weekend stay at the Mt. Washington Resort was given to Kevin Kelleher.
Special thanks go to Max Lane of the New England Patriots and Katrina Bernard, Miss Manchester, who also gave special appearances at the Vertical Challenge. Heartfelt thanks to each of you who supported these team members, as well as to the volunteers who braved the cold and came out to assist and support us for the day. Without you we could not have raised this money for such a worthy cause.
Check out the pictures of this year’s event! We hope you will consider joining us next year on Saturday, January 23, 2010.