Montréal (QC), Canada – The mood was upbeat last week at the Société des Arts technologiques in Montréal as well-known faces from Québec’s worlds of culture, arts and sports mingled with the intrepid skiers, walkers, and runners who will take part in the 15th edition of Tremblant’s 24h. The reception was held to mark the official start of the fundraising race for this philanthropic event and was a prime opportunity for participating teams to find further motivation to surpass their objectives.
From December 4 to 6, thousands of participants will hit the ski slopes of Tremblant and run or walk the surrounding trails to raise funds for sick and underprivileged children. Each team has between 6 and 12 people, who relay each other over 24 consecutive hours of skiing, walking or running. So far, more than 200 teams have signed up, including almost 60 teams taking part in the 24-hour Walk & Run portion of the event. Teams have until November 20 to register.
Fifteen years of generosity means more than C$18 million has been raised for children’s causes since 2001. Last year participants raised over C$2.3 million. Organizers aim to top that this year, raising the bar to C$2.5 million.
“I’m impressed by how far we’ve come since the first edition in 2001, and by the steadfast dedication of the entire community, which grows each year and has made our event a must for participants and crucial to our cause, the cause of children,” said Simon St-Arnaud, executive producer of Tremblant’s 24h since 2001.
As it does each year, Tremblant’s 24h has enlisted a group of dedicated event ambassadors. This year, they are Benoit Gagnon, Philippe Fehmiu, Mario Tessier, Anne-Marie Withenshaw, Érik Guay, Dustin Cook, Lianne Laing and Stuntman Stu, who will join the skiers in their efforts, while Dominic Arpin, Marie-Claude Sabourin, Frédéric Plante and Yanick Bouchard will be on foot with the participants of the concurrent Walk & Run event. Each participating team will also be symbolically paired with one of the 10 sponsored children, which puts a face to the cause and spurs participants to work even harder toward their fundraising goal. A number of other celebrities have signed up to support the teams and ambassadors, including Pierre Bruneau, Paul Doucet, Lyne Bessette, Patrice Godin and Jean-François Guérin.
In keeping with tradition, the event will once again lend a party atmosphere to the resort. The program includes a revamped “party at the summit” on Friday night and the traditional Saturday night event at the foot of the slopes hosted by David Laflèche, featuring Dumas, Kevin Bazinet, Foreign Diplomat, Martin Deschamps, Lili-Ann DeFrancesco and Jonas, just to name a few. Then, at 10:30 p.m., the band Simple Plan will take to the stage for the special 15th anniversary show.
Organizations that will benefit from the funds raised by the event are: Fondation Centre de cancérologie Charles-Bruneau, Fondation Tremblant and the Ottawa Senators Foundation.