Twenty-four-hour Tommy was hailed as the hero of the inaugural 24Hr of Blue.
The Toronto resident single-handedly completed more than 100 laps during the first 24-hour ski/snowboard event held at Blue Mountain over the weekend, which raised $63,000 for the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) and Special Olympics.
“It’s all about the Special Olympics,” said Tommy Lam. “Those are the heroes. They do things that need multiple times the efforts that we do. We are not the heroes, they are.”
Four-time winter Olympian and CBC sports host Brian Stemmle left the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang South Korea early to be the ambassador for 24Hr of Blue.
He led a team of Special Olympians down the hill Saturday at the opening ceremony and is a long-time ambassador for the Special Olympics.
“There is great spirit and camaraderie here and to ski for 24 hours. . ,” he said from the bottom of the hill.
The Ontario Provincial Police had a team and so did the army from Canadian Forces Base Meaford. The army team skied more laps and the OPP team rewarded them with a case of beer Sunday afternoon.
Jennifer Cavanagh skied for the 11-member OPP team which covered the full 24 hours.
“At six o’clock in the morning, it was sideways rain. That was the hardest part,” she said.
The OPP supports Special Olympics through an annual fundraising torch run, so they needed to have a team in this event, she said.
The Millars, of Collingwood, were the only family team. Decked out in yellow, the team entitled You Skied Me All Night Long, had someone on the hill for the entire 24 hours including 73-year-old matriarch Sharon. The family completed 225 laps and raised about $2,500.
“We saw the first promotion from Blue at Christmas time,” said John, Sharon’s spouse. “All the family was together and we were sitting at the dinner table and we said that sounds like an interesting event, great causes, let’s do it. After a bottle of wine, I don’t know if AC/DC was on, but that was the name.”
24Hr of Blue organizer Michael Ney, said all the sponsors, including title sponsor Freedom 55 Financial, and Blue Mountain where highly supportive of the event, adding that it will definitely be held again next year and be bigger and better.
“We’ve been incredibly pleased how it went. Last night the Village Square was absolutely packed with people,” he said.
CBC’s Rod Black was the host, the OPP provided the Honour Guard and the Special Olympics cauldron was lit. Athletes had to run from the square and jump into their skis and get on the lift. The event started promptly at noon Saturday.
“We ended spot on 12 noon Sunday,” he said.
It was very windy overnight and some of the sponsor tents lifted off their anchors. There were no injuries to any of the athletes.
There were 11 teams in the event. The No. 1 fundraising team was that from Escarpment Magazine which raised $11,811. Escarpment Magazine team, captained by Clay Dolan, was also the team with the most runs at 278.
The top individual fundraiser was Stan Kuliavas, of Toronto, who raised $5,147. He was on the Levaero Aviation team with nine people.
A representatives from the CGMH Foundation and Special Olympics thanked all the donators and athletes.
Blue Mountain’s Chris Lewis said “I left today with a new ski hero 24-hour Tommy. How impressive is that. Great job,” he said as the audience shouted out “Tommy, Tommy.”
