Each year, thousands of members of the greater Washington, D.C. area community gather at Dulles International Airport to participate in the annual Plane Pull competition to raise funds and awareness for Special Olympics Virginia. With the pandemic causing unique challenges and the cancellation of all in person Special Olympics programming since March, including the in person Plane Pull in September, we need YOU to show our athletes that you are PULLING for them now more than ever.
There will be 2 ways for you to register to pull with us this year:
- Full team registration/payment - $2,500*
Includes 25 complimentary registration, 25 shirts & 25 participation medals
- Individual registration (must be to a team) - $25
Includes 1 event participation registration
*All registration fees will count towards team total.
Incentives for Pulling Together:
- ALL teams that reach the typical minimum donation ($2,500) by October 17 will receive bronze participation medals. (no limit to number of team members)
- Individuals that raise $100 by event day will receive an event shirt
- Teams that raise $5,000 by event day will receive silver participation medals.
Shirts and medals will be mailed post event.
Event Activity:
Teams are encouraged to register as soon as possible in order to begin raising funds, getting more friends on the ropes and to begin training for event week!
Once a team registers, they will be introduced to an Special Olympics athlete Team Captain. Teams are encouraged to interact with them as much as possible to get motivated for event week! Check out some great ideas on how to connect with your SOVA athlete Team Captain HERE!
Beginning on October 12, teams should start walking, running, cycling, or any other fitness activity where you rack up miles. Are you more of a yoga, weightlifting or other non miles tracking activity person? No problem! Every 15 minutes of activity count as one mile! Participants can track their miles on any app they want such as Strava, Runkeeper or Endomondo. After each activity, participants should log their miles HERE for their team to receive credit. Teams are encouraged to keep this up though October 16. During event week, teams should post photos and videos of their activity on social media and make sure to use the hashtag #2020VirtualDullesPlanePull.
Are you ad avid runner? Help your team win the gold by signing up for our the Virtual Dulles Day 5k/10k HERE and rack up the miles!
October 17 is event day! All teams will want to log on to a special Facebook Live event at 10 am where we will celebrate all that we have accomplished for the athletes of Special Olympics Virginia and annoyance who our event winners are!
Teams Compete in Three Ways:
- Contest 1 - Overall Event Winner - The overall event winning team is determined by a weighted formula that takes into consideration funds raised, miles logged, and number of team members. Teams also get bonus points for bringing in donations of $100!
- Contest 2 - Highest Fundraising Team - Team that raises the most money over registration period
- Contest 3 - Most Active Team - Team that logs the most activity during event week and thus "pulls the plane" the furthest
Contest winning teams will receive gold version of the participation medal.
In addition we will be awarding plaques to teams and individuals who hit activty and fundraising milestones!