Heather Latter
Teams have been selected for Monday’s “Pulling for Peace,” the annual friendly tug of war between Fort Frances and International Falls.
And with a 3-1 record, Canada is ready to defend its title.
“We’re got a hand-picked team of strong people from Rainy River to Fort Frances,” noted Mike Gurski. “We’re going to give them a run for their money.”
While he indicated the American team last year included members of the Minnesota Vikings—and may have even more players on this year’s team—they were able to out-pull their opponents.
“With them getting more and more football players and professional athletes all the time, it makes it a little tougher on us, but I think we can surprise them one more time,” he stressed.
This year’s team, which is made up of 30 men and 20 women, will include veterans Luke Skaarup and several members of the local roller derby league.
Meanwhile, the celebrity pull, which will open the “Pulling for Peace” event, also has a full slate of well known community leaders.
It includes former football coach Dave “The Enforcer” Montgomery, former NHLer Dave “Big Red” Allison, and CFL alumni Jack “The Hammer” Cameron and Bill “The Undertaker” Low, as well as political personalities such as MP John “Relentless” Rafferty, former MPP Howard “Hitman” Hampton, and current MPP Sarah “N.W. Ninja” Campbell.
Also making the team were retired principal Ian “Simmering” Simpson, principal Al “The Muscle” McManaman, Education Director “Hyper” Heather Campbell, optometrist
Bruce “The Spectacle” Lidkea, B93 manager Leo “Rocky” Melanson, and Riverside CAO Allan “The Anchor” Katz.
Rounding out the Canadian celebrity team are town CAO Mark “Cheese” McCaig, Public Works manager Doug “Mork” Brown, and fire chief Frank “The Tank” Sheppard, along with council members Captain Roy “Ace “ Avis, Mayor, councillor Paul “Foot Pedal Down” Ryan, councillor Ken “Polka Dot” Perry (alternate), councillor Andrew “Flying Finn” Hallikas, and councillor Rick “Weed Man” Wiedenhoeft.
While the celebrity pull is for bragging rights only—not the trophy, Coun. Wiedenhoeft indicated he feels they have a strong team, but that the Americans are certainly stepping up to the plate.
“They’ve got many former Vikings, muscle-men and martial arts fighters, so we might get our butts kicked on the celebrity pull,” he chuckled. “But we’ll give it our best shot.”
New this year is a third pull, a community pull, which will take place following the celebrity pull, but before the power pull (the one for the trophy).
Anyone 16 years and older who is interested in completing in the community pull are asked to gather near the metal Rainy Lake mermaid sculpture after the celebrity pull is completed.
Each member of the celebrity team will then hand out a pair of gloves to one male and one female to make up the 40-member community team.
“Again it’s just for bragging rights and the honour,” Coun. Wiedenhoeft explained. “But it sure will be nice to get more members of the community involved in the event.”
The power pull will be the final pull, with the mayor of the losing side traveling by boat to the winning side to present the trophy.
This will be followed by a BBQ hosted by the Fort Frances Kiwanis Club, with hotdogs and hamburgers available for a monetary donation.
The entire event is set to get underway with the reading of the official rules and the celebrity team announced at 5 p.m. Each anthem will be played at 5:25 p.m., followed by the celebrity pull at 5:30 p.m.
The community pull should get going around 5:50 p.m., while the power pull is schedule to go around 6:15 p.m.
“Come out and cheer us on,” urged Gurski. “We want to bring the trophy back to Canada.”
