Greetings from Berlin!

Greg Dawson and I are in Berlin for a handful of days meeting with our colleagues at the Local Organizing Committee. We had the pleasure meeting eight of your German teammates, who are pictured above with our torch in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Today (28 April) was the official public release of the Final Leg Torch, pictured below.

A few of the local Special Olympics athletes with the Torch, along with the Games Mascot named Unity

Local school children visiting the Brandenburg Gate got to meet Unity and hold the Torch

As many of you may know, Germany does not yet have an LETR program. Today, Greg and I met with the officers and gave them an introduction to our movement, Special Olympics, and the Final Leg.

Beginning tomorrow, we will be doing recon on each of the running routes.

You are going to have a fantastic time in Germany!

 

How many miles

How Many Miles Did You Run Today?

Just a very friendly and not so subtle reminder to make sure you are piling up the miles. All of us want you to thoroughly enjoy every moment you're in Germany, and one of the best ways to do that is to ensure your are physically prepared. Your goal when you land in Berlin is to be able to sustain a 10-minute per mile pace for at least three miles. If you accomplish that goal, the running in Germany will be a piece of cake and you will be able to smile, breathe, take in the sights and participate in the cadences.

Keep on runnin'!

 

Do you want some Final Leg Patches

 

Do you want some Final Leg Patches to give away or trade?

Those of you who have already received their Uniform Kit will have noticed that the backpack has a velcro Final Leg patch attached to the front panel.  This is a change from the past when the backpacks had the Final Leg logo embroidered on the front.

One of the reasons for this change of direction was the realisation that you might want to continue using the backpack well into the future and may not want it readily identified as a relic of the 2023 LETR Final Leg.

An upside of this decision is that we've had a few extra patches made up and everyone on the team is going to get an extra one that they can keep, give away or trade at some later stage.

WHAT IF YOU WANT ADDITIONAL PATCHES?

Well we hope you do, because as I said earlier, we've had a few extra made up.  This could tie in with your fundraising efforts - as a way of thanking some of your donors - or simply as a gift for friends when you get home.

Extra patches are going to be available to purchase.  They will cost USD$10 each and to try and make it easy as possible, we'll be asking Kami to set up a payment site on the Fundraising Page - it's not there yet so don't bother looking - we'll let you know when it's active.

You'll also be able to buy some in Berlin from the Logistics Team - again by credit card only.

There is not an unlimited supply of the patches and when they are gone - they're gone.

Thanks

Scott

 Update on the Final Leg Fundraiser

It occurred to me today that there was a vital piece of information that I had neglected to include in the Final Leg Fundraising Information Package.

Yes - what to do if someone wants to give you a check (shouldn't that be spelled 'cheque'?).

It seems that there is no facility available on the fundraising platform to 'make a donation by check'  The only method of payment available is by debit or credit card.

The most important thing to remember is NOT to turn the person away because you can't lodge the check on-line through the system.  Take possession of the check and then contact Final Leg team member Kami Delameter - her day job is Senior Manager, LETR with Special Olympics International. 

Kami will guide you through the process of where to send the check, how it should be made out etc and ensure that your fundraising account is credited with that donation.

Kami can be contacted at:  kdelameter@specialolympics.org

Scott

Using Social Media

 USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE THE FINAL LEG

As we get close to the start of the Final Leg, it's time to start thinking about what can be done to promote your involvement in the 2023 LETR Final Leg in Berlin.

The obvious 'new-age' way to tell your family, friends and colleagues about your journey to Berlin is through Social Media.

To help maximise the impact that your social posts have, Final Leg team member (and social media wizard) Shawn Byrne has prepared a 'hint sheet' for all of you to use when creating your social posts for the event.

In addition, he has also created two Facebook and Twitter friendly images that you can incorporate into one or more of your posts

There is a downloadable zip file containing all three images shown in this post on the Team Portal.

Or you can CLICK HERE to download the zip file.

Thanks to Shawn Byrne for his work on these images.

Hope they are of some help

Scott

Launch of the 2023 Final Leg Fundraiser

 

The 2023 Final Leg Fundraiser is ready to go

This is an announcement that should have been made some time ago, but like many aspects of the build-up to the 2023 LETR Final Leg, it has not been a straight-forward process.

But - we got there!  Finally!  At Last!

The concept of Final Leg Team members conducting fundraising in conjunction with a Final Leg event started back in 2011 in Athens, when team members assisted in raising funds to subsidize the travel costs of the ten Special Olympics athletes who joined the team.  Fundraising continued in 2013 in Korea, 2017 in Austria and 2019 in Abu Dhabi where the team raised almost USD$400,000.

This year, we have decided on a fundraising approach that is simple and easy to manage. You will not be called upon to commit to daring acts of bravery - no need to leap from the top of a tall building, or to dive into a pool of shark infested waters this time round.

The focus this year is for you to seek support from your community and network of friends and colleagues for the 2023 Law Enforcement Torch Run Final Leg in Berlin.

Having said that, your participation in the fundraiser in 100% voluntary.

We've pulled together an Information Package that provides you with assistance on how to sign up, how to maximise social media, to learn about the Incentive Program and the Revenue Sharing model.  Click on the button below to open the package.

We've also put all these documents, plus the social media images (and a downloadable zip file) as well as a QR Code to take you to the Fundraising Page in the Team Portal on the LETR website.

This is what the QR Code looks like - click on it and it will take you to the Fundraising webpage:

We hope you will take up the challenge and sign up to assist both your local LETR or Special Olympics program and the LETR International Executive Council.

Thanks

Scott

 DID YOU KNOW THAT WE OFTEN SING AS WE RUN?

That's not a trick question.  For decades now Torch Runners have kept themselves amused by running to a 'Cadence'.  Perhaps this came from the military? - who knows.  

Cadence is defined as 'the rhythmic flow of sounds or words' and we do it to motivate, to announce our presence as we run and often just to make noise.

The LETR Final Leg has for many years used four standard Torch Run Cadences.  Today, I'll present the first one to you.  

This one has a twin sister - when we are running through the streets of Berlin, we'll use this version, but when we are outside of Berlin - in the state of Brandenburg, we'll swap out the word Berlin in the second last line for Brandenburg.

There is a full copy of all four standard cadences available to download in the Team Portal as well as images like the one above of the others.

Can you do any better?

If you think you can produce a better cadence that what we are currently using, discuss it with your team leader and if they agree, send it in to Mark, Greg or myself.  Maybe something in German - we will be in Germany after all.

Something to think about

Scott

Final Leg Fundraiser

We know many of you are anxious to start raising money for our Final Leg in Berlin. After searching high and low for appropriate venues that work with our time constraints and transportation needs, the Planning Committee has made the decision that the FINAL LEG itself will be our fundraising mechanism. Much like many programs around the world, we will use our Final Leg Torch Run in Germany. It should be an easy sell to your constituents. "Help support me and the athletes of Special Olympics as I participate in the LETR Final Leg Torch Run," or something to that effect.

The fundraising page is being constructed as we speak, and we should be rolling it out early next week with detailed instructions on how to set up your individual and team pages.

Additionally, Scott Whyte will be publishing the individual fundraising incentives, which we think are pretty extraordinary.

Stay tuned! 

 Communications Guidance

We are quickly closing in on our departure to Berlin for what we know will be a tremendous experience of raising awareness for the World Games, our worldwide LETR program, and of course our amazing athletes.

For those of you on social media (you ALL should be on social media given your commitment to LETR and Special Olympics), you will have seen that SOI has begun pushing out the participants on the Final Leg. To coincide with those announcements, we have prepared a couple of documents you may find helpful.

Copy the links below to your browser. Once you open the documents you can copy and paste to a Word file and edit accordingly:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10U_M01i_gO3a3HBZNk0KBscHgyu96BgS/view?usp=share_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Ea7i357-HO3Y39YGRXJ24lt2dfvrY22/view?usp=sharing

If you have any issues, or need additional direction, please let me know.

Final Leg Team Portal

 THE FINAL LEG TEAM PORTAL HAS BEEN UPDATED

For the past twelve months or so, there has been a section in the LETR website which has been dedicated to providing access to team members to register for the event.

We kept the page open a lot longer than expected or intended - primarily because of a number of withdrawals from the teams meaning that we had to leave the site open for their replacements.

With just under 60 days to go, we're probably not going to get any one else registering - so over the past weekend, I took a scalpel to the page and changed it's focus.

The Final Leg Team Portal is now a repository of information that you as team members need access to - mostly, it is information that has been sent out to you by email or through these blog posts, but now they are all in one place, so that if you want to check up on information about travel, accommodation, uniforms etc, it is up on the Portal.

If you go looking for something and can't find it on the Portal, please send me a message and I'll ensure it goes up.

Just in case you haven't been to the Portal in a while, here are a few hints about how to get there:

Go to the LETR website - www.letr.org

Click on the LETR FINAL LEG link on the main page

Slide down to the bottom of the page and click on this button (I only put it there today)

Remember that there is a 4 digit PIN Code to get into the Portal - 1834

Stroll through the page and see what's there.

If you have any issues getting to the page or with the content, please let me know.

Scott

Final Leg Route Summaries released

 DRAFT FINAL LEG ROUTE SUMMARIES RELEASED

A lot of work has been over the past twelve months by the Berlin 23 Local Organizing Committee to build a series of Torch Run routes over the four days of our Final Leg.

We will be traversing the German states of Berlin (a City State) and Brandenburg between Wednesday, June 14, 2023 and Saturday, June 17, 2023, culminating in our team bringing the Flam of Hope into the Berlin Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics World Games.

Whilst the final details of the Torch Runs have not yet been finalised - we are hoping this will happen when Final Leg Planning Committee Chair and Vice-Chair, Mark McCorkle and Greg Dawson travel to Berlin in just over a week - we are in a position to release a Draft version of the Daily Summaries.  Please remember that they are draft.

click on the image below to read the document

There is also a copy of the document in the Final Leg Team Portal (under the www.letr.org website)

Enjoy the read

Scott

 FINAL LEG ACCOMMODATION ANNOUNCEMENT

The time has come to reveal who you will be sharing a room with in Berlin during the LETR Final Leg.

But first, a little bit of information about where we will be staying

The Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade is a world class hotel located in the center of Berlin within walking distance of many of the main tourist attractions in the city, including the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall Memorial and Tiergarten.

We've put together a slideshow to give you an idea of what the hotel looks like:

The accommodation at the hotel is all twin share and we've tried as hard as possible to keep team members together.  There have been a few occasions where we could not manage this - where we had an uneven number of female torch runners on a team; or where our Berlin or Brandenburg torch runners did not have english as a second language - but otherwise you'll generally find yourself teamed up up someone from your own team.

Click on the image below to download the Accommodation Listing PDF

The PDF shows you the room listings in team order and then in the second section shows who you are sharing with in alphabetical order.

PRE AND POST STAYS IN BERLIN

We know from the travel itineraries that most of you have submitted that some of you are planning to either come into Berlin ahead of time (ie before June 12) or stay on afterwards (after June 19).  You may already have everything in hand accommodation wise and that's fine if you do.

But if you haven't booked accommodation yet, please hang off for a couple more weeks.  Mark McCorkle and Greg Dawson will be travelling to Berlin at the end of April for a series of meetings and announcements and will be talking with the Sheraton Hotel to see what can be done in terms of room availability and (hopefully) competitive room rates.

They will be back from Berlin in the first week of May and we'll let you all know what they have found out.

That's about all we have on the accommodation front at the moment

Scott

 REMINDER!

WE NEED YOUR FLIGHT DETAILS

On 22 February, we published a post relating to travel to Berlin for the Final Leg.  In that post, there was a link where you could fill in yet another form to advise us of your flights in and out of Berlin.

As of this morning (10 April), there are still 31 Torch Runners who have not completed that form.  You are not going to named and shamed here, but expect an email with a link to this post so that you can fill in the form.  If you are having delays booking your flights, please let us know.

Just so the Torch Runners don't feel like they are getting belted, there are also a few Team Leaders and Logistics Team members who are yet to complete the form - they can also expect an email.

Please click on the image below to fill in the Travel Notification Form

Time is of the essence folks

Thanks

Scott

 Update on the Final Leg Team Uniform kits

By the time you read this post, a number of team members would have already received their backpacks with the Final Leg Uniform Kit.  The LETR International Executive Council met in Chicago last week and we had over forty backpacks shipped there so that Council members could take them back to team members who lived near them.

In addition, those team members living in the US and Canada who don't get their backpacks through a Council member will have them shipped directly to your address by Will Enterprises.

For the remaining team members - from Hong Kong and parts of Europe, the backpacks will be shipped directly to Berlin and be waiting there for you.

The backpack will contain four running shirts, two polo shirts, a lightweight jacket and two pair of shorts.  See below for a snapshot on what they look like.

In addition, you will be provided with socks on arrival in Berlin.

Logistics Team members will also be provided with safety vests (for safety reasons obviously).

We have ordered additional uniform items as spares, knowing full well that sometimes sizes just don't work.  If the uniform items you receive simply don't fit, please contact me prior to your departure for Berlin, advising the extent of the issue and we will do the best we can to provide a remedy once we get to Berlin.  

Having said that, we don't have an endless quantity of spares and if the fit is just a bit loose, it may be suggested to you to put up with it. 

Scott

 OPENING CEREMONY UNIFORM

Greetings Team! A couple of folks have asked to reiterate the uniform of the day for the Opening Ceremonies on 17 June. This is a FORMAL event for us, so we ask that you wear your agency's formal, dress uniform, Class "A" uniform, or whatever terminology your agency utilizes to "dress fancy."  If your formal dress includes a cover (hat), please have it with you. 

No weapons or handcuffs of any kind will be allowed. If you choose to wear a duty belt, it should be stripped down. It is quite a spectacle to see the law enforcement uniforms of the world lined up as one in celebration of the Flame of Hope.

If you do not wear a uniform in your duties, or choose not to wear a uniform, members of the Team will be wearing the Final Leg uniform for the ceremony.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

UPDATE FROM CHICAGO

Your Team Captain and I have been in Chicago over the past few days meeting with the LETR International Executive Council.  We managed some time on the sidelines of the meeting to sort through a variety of issues that are impacting on the Final Leg.

There is good news to come on every front.

Please watch out over the next few days for further information (I have to jump back on a plane to Australia this afternoon)

Scott