Skidaddle competitors Meg Murgatroyd, CAA South Central Ontario & Cari Marotta, Experience Kissimmee c/o VoX International
The most fabulous dance off competitors strutting their stuff: Uniglobe's Joel Kopstick; Manulife's Paul Poulin & Trafalgar's Kory Sterling
Uniworld's Great Bra Off Competition Champ Ed Radonic flanked by Nina Slawek & Michelle Palma
Charlie Agostino & Elaine Carnegie, Canlink; Leslie Lorette, Avis/Budget & Alison Theodore, St. Lucia Tourist Board with their award winning Snow Nancy
Dianne Jackson's Boobly Toast
We’ve had GreenBoob (no snow!) WhiteBoob (too much snow!) and last week, perhaps JustRightBoob. This year’s WinterBoob, OpenJaw’s annual fest of friendship, fellowship and fundraising was another huge success.
Some 120 celebrants representing tour operators, airlines, tourist boards, retailers and other suppliers convened at the always-hospitable Hockley Valley Resort about an hour’s drive northwest of Toronto. As always – and this was the 11th WinterBoob – there was a nice mix of skiers, spa-ers and full immersion après-ski.
WinterBoob’s purpose is to raise funds for breast cancer, so there were many opportunities to keep ourselves abreast of activities. As the opening ceremonies at Sochi aired on the big screen in the background, indoor athletes got down to serious competition including Name Those Celebrity Breasts; the Titty Toss (won by Canlink’s Brent Carnegie with 10 consecutive sinkers); Bra Decorating and The Great Bra Off, won handily by Radonic Rogers’ Ed Radonic, henceforth to be known as Ed Radoffic.
Paul Poulin of ManuLife Financial dazzled in the dance off. And out on the slopes, Sunwing’s David Wright won the skidaddle race, easily if a little tardily qualifying for Sochi.
This year’s event was dedicated to Nancy Abbott, a dedicated WinterBoober, Occidental Hotels rep and VoX employee whom we lost to breast cancer late last year. Attendees made a fabulous Snow Nancy (complete with bling) and OpenJaw’s Nina Slawek made a very moving tribute to her.
Also speaking at pre-dinner cocktails was Expedia’s Dianne Jackson, who is very frank about experiences with breast cancer in her life, and who reminded us that, “We need to face our battle, dig deep in our pockets and fight this battle against not just breast cancer, but all cancer.”
As always an auction was held during the delicious dinner, with the highest item being a $5,100 bid by Cari Marotta of Experience Kissimmee at VoX for a Bahamas cruise on board Ed Radonic’s Black Diamond Yacht, with air provided by WestJet.
And speaking of funds, Winterboob 2014 raised a whopping $55,000 – bringing the total the event has raised over the years to just under $350,000. Congratulations Nina and Suzanne and their team for their creativity and typical OpenJaw sense of irreverent fun while never letting us lose site of the true goal of WinterBoob each year.
Welcome to WinterBoob!
Open Jaw’s WinterBoob team: Helen Hewetson; Ben Blanc, Caroline Booth;
Bruce Parkinson; Suzanne Christie; Adrienne Lem; Nina Slawek; Dan Galbraith.
Missing in action: Stuart Morcombe; Martha Chapman & Doreen Lynch
