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IDowntime (Continued)
I’ve been having a lot of fun since I last posted. Lots of time off, spending time with Mari, hanging out with friends, and attending some cool events.
The first ‘event’ I went to was the WWF CN Tower climb. I got involved as a result of another organization I’m involved with (Canadian Athletes Now), and since I was going to be in Toronto at the time I said, “Why not?” It ended up being a heck of a workout and took me 13:59 to make it up the 1776 steps to the top. My heart rate didn’t go under 200 for about 13 of those minutes!
The next day I had a meeting with Eric Sprott and the rest of the Sprott Private Wealth group. The meeting was great and I got to meet the people who are involved in my sponsorship, which was also very cool. While there I was invited to the Sprott Gold Medal Celebration event a few days later, so I changed my plans and stayed in Toronto a few more days. The event was in collaboration with CAN Fund, and I was very glad I stayed for it. I met several Olympic medal winners from Vancouver and even got to hold a Gold medal. I’ve never seen a medal as cool, or as heavy as that! I also met Jane Roos, the founder of the CAN Fund. She has such a positive outlook on sport and funding, it was neat to talk to her. Each Olympian had a chance to speak, which was probably the coolest part about the event. Hearing each speech brought me right back to Whistler during the Games and made me realize how important my goals are to me and made me want to achieve them more than ever before.
You can check out some video from the event and interviews with the Olympians and Eric here
View of part of the Sprott/CAN Fund event
Everyone was given a t-shirt they could get signed by the Olympians
After Toronto I stopped off in Ottawa for about 4 hours before moving on to Montreal to watch the parade of Olympic Athletes down Ste Catherines. The turnout for the parade was unreal (tens of thousands of people) and it was so cool to see that Olympic pride is still alive and well!
I have just over a week before I head out to Calgary for physical testing and the first dryland block of the season. I’m looking forward to working out again and getting strong for next season! Until then I’ll be at home biking, playing tennis and some light work outs in preparation for the heavy summer ahead.
Sprott's Gold Medal Pledge: The Final Tally
I posted a few weeks ago about Eric Sprott and his incredible pledge to donate $100,000 for every Gold medal won by a Canadian at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. With the conclusion of the games on February 28th, and a record setting 14 Gold medals by Canadian athletes, Sprott has made his donation official. The 14 Golds means Sprott Asset Management LP and the Sprott Foundation will donate $1.4 million dollars to the Canadian Athletes Now Fund!
"Like all of Canada, I was electrified by the exceptional performance of so many of our Canadian athletes during the Vancouver games," said Sprott. "But it's the massive outpouring of pride Canadians are exhibiting towards our athletes that we wanted to capture with the Gold Metal Celebration. Nothing unites a Nation like sport."
- Eric Sprott
Several (try all) major news sources in Canada have been covering the story and here are a few places to read more on Sprott and CAN Fund:
Marketwire Press Release
Financial Post New Report
Sprott Gold Pledge Website
CAN Fund Website
Most of you know that Eric Sprott has been my sponsor for the past two years, and this past year became my headgear sponsor. I am extremely proud to have Eric supporting me, and his pledge and commitment to sport is pretty special and something I've definitely never seen before.
Many of Canada's Olympic medalists in Vancouver were recipients of CAN Funding this year. For example John Montgomery (Gold, Skeleton), Charles Hamelin (Gold, ST Speed Skating), and Joannie Rochette (Bronze, Figure Skating) were all recipients this year.
And word on the street is that Jasey Jay Anderson, the Gold medalist in Snowboarding Parallel Giant Slalom at the Vancouver Olympics and CAN Fund recipient, is at Sprott's office in Toronto today with his Gold medal to thank Eric for his generosity. Very cool!
Sprott's Olympic-Size Donation
My headgear sponsor, Eric Sprott of Sprott Private Wealth, has made an incredible donation and pledge for Canadian athletes. Yesterday Sprott held a press conference in conjunction with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund (CAN Fund), and pledged to donate $100,000 to CAN Fund for every gold medal won by Canadian athletes at the Vancouver Games. Yes you read that correctly, one hundred thousand dollars!! In addition to this pledge, Sprott donated $215,000 to help 35 athletes on the CAN Fund waiting list.
"With our Canadian athletes competing for gold against the best in the world, we wanted to celebrate their success in achieving their goals by supporting the CAN Fund, which provides direct funding to Canadian athletes," Sprott said in a news release Thursday.
You can read the CTV Olympics article on Sprott here.
I am extremely proud to have the Sprott emblem displayed on all of my headgear and I'm simply amazed by the generosity of his pledge. For more information on Eric, CAN Fund, and to donate check out: http://sprottgoldpledge.com/
Sponsor Shots
My teammate Jeff Frisch and I stayed out after training today to get some photos taken for our sponsors.
My personal headgear sponsor this year is Sprott Private Wealth, which was my shoulder patch sponsor last season as well.
Jeff is sponsored by Bombardier for his headgear, and has a unique shoulder patch sponsor. Several businessmen from his adopted home club Tremblant (Jeff was born in Italy) came together to provide the funds for his shoulder patch. Hence the DGRGCPM patch!
I'm still looking for a shoulder patch sponsor for this year, so if anyone is interested or knows anyone who would be interested in supporting a local athlete, you can contact me at dustin@dustincook.ca !
(Click an image to go to the album)
Sprott Private Wealth
I am very pleased to announce that I will once again be sponsored by Sprott Private Wealth. This year the Sprott Private Wealth logo will be prominently displayed as my headgear sponsor on all of my Alpine Canada hats and my helmets. I am extremely proud to wear the Sprott logo and I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Sprott and everyone at Sprott Private Wealth who had a hand in making this happen.
Mr. Eric Sprott, founder and owner of Sprott Private Wealth was kind enough to invite my father, sister and myself to his office in Toronto this summer. The visit was very cool and the office is simply stunning. You can see some pictures of my visit there here.
