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Standing Tall
by Steve Macleod
Enriching the lives of Special Olympic athletes and raising awareness for breast cancer research are undoubtedly worthy causes, and thanks to a number of selfless truckers, each cause got a needed boost recently. Manitoba "We had about 13 athletes out and they were all in trucks," says Terry Hopkinson, Special Olympics Manitoba Torch Run liaison. "They were mostly soccer players and there was supposed to be a scrimmage with the drivers, but it got called off because of rain the night before. But it was a nice day for them." The trucks gathered in Oak Bluff, Man. and traveled along the 56-km perimeter highway around Winnipeg, before arriving back at the original destination. After the convoy, the athletes voted on their favourite truck and the honour went to Henry Pickton of Vartol International. "It had a big grille on it, which they liked," says Hopkinson. Cliff and Brenda Sumner of TransX drove the lead truck in the convoy by collecting the most pledges - $3155. TransX also got the trophy for most trucks in the convoy with 15. It was the third time Manitoba has signed on to be part of the World's Largest Truck Convoy and Hopkinson is looking forward to making it a fourth next year. "We're just contemplating the dates," he says. "There were a lot of events in Winnipeg that weekend, like the dragon boat races, and we'll try and have less conflict next year." Ontario The three truckers who collected the most donations for the event were: Luis Alves of Linamar Transport with $4730, Brian Hilton of McKinnon Transport with $4244, and Dwight Snider of Drumbo Transport with $3160. As usual, a handful of drivers - those raising at least $1000 in pledges - took to the baseball diamond for a game of slo-pitch versus a team of special athletes. The truckers lost 17-12 to the Stratford State Farm Insurance C team, who won the provincial C-division championships this summer. A veteran of four previous campaigns, Stephane Gauthier attributes the team's success to the novelty headgear. "The hats were our lucky charms. We'll have them on again next year." Alberta "We froze," says Kristin McCallum, organizer of the Alberta Convoy for a Cure. "It was overcast, gross and cold. But it was really good, everybody had fun and there were no accidents." The inaugural Alberta event, in support of breast cancer awareness, was held on the outskirts of Edmonton on Oct. 3 and raised more than $20,000 for the Prairies/NWT region of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. About 20 lady truckers made up the convoy that traveled from the Husky Truck Stop in Acheson, Alta. to the Roadking Travel Centre in Sherwood Park, a 65-km route. "A couple of the girls had really nicely decorated trucks," says McCallum, an owner-operator based in Spruce Grove, Alta. "Some girls really put in a lot of effort." An award for the best decorated truck went to Nicole Coates of Davidson Trucking, while the award for most pledges - almost $3000 - went to Dee Kibler with livestock hauler JFL. "We were hoping for more trucks, but it wasn't bad," adds McCallum. "It was way less organized than I wanted it to be, but I learned a lot. I think we'll do it earlier next year because it's too cold in Alberta in October. We already have things lined up with sponsors and the same band." Ontario On Oct.3, 40 female truckers raised more than $18,000 for the Ontario region of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The women gathered at the Fifth Wheel Truck Stop in Cornwall, Ont. with their rigs covered in pink ribbons. At noon, the convoy headed west on the 401 to the 730 Truckstop in Cardinal, Ont. New Brunswick
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