Integra Optics Supports Child Rescue Network in 2015 Fireball Run!

LATHAM, N.Y., October, 12^th, 2015 – Integra Optics, a leading fiber optic solutions company, competed in the 2015 Fireball Run earlier this month – an annual 8-day competition featuring over 40 teams in a 2,000 mile race across America that raises awareness of missing children and the Child Rescue Network. Integra Optics’ CEO Dave Prescott, and COO Jeff DeWeese, represented the company in its third consecutive year participating in the race, and finished 3^rd in the SUV category and 9^th overall.

Throughout the race, all teams take part in a massive campaign called The Race to Recover America’s Missing Children, for which each team distributes 1,000 flyers of a missing child in the hopes of increasing awareness. Prescott and DeWeese represented Monique Santiago, who was abducted in March 1990 from Albany, NY. Since 2007, the Fireball Run’s missing children campaign has resulted in the successful recovery of numerous missing children.

“The cause behind the Fireball Run is the biggest reason why Integra Optics competes every year,” says Prescott. “The Fireball Run organization, and every team that competes in the race puts in a tremendous amount of effort in raising awareness of these missing children, and Integra Optics is so proud to contribute to such an important campaign.”

This year the race began on September 25^th in Hartford, Connecticut, and finished in Cocoa Beach, Florida on October 3^rd, with check points in six different cities along the east coast. At each check point, teams were required to distribute flyers and complete various challenges that would earn them points and lead them to the next stop.

During their journey, Prescott and DeWeese visited a number of historic locations and were able to touch historical artifacts that are usually restricted from the general public. Such artifacts included a 1500 year-old peace pipe, Saddam Hussein’s gun, a 1924 Olympic gold medal, remains of a bomb from the Mars Bluff Bomb Incident, and John Wilkes Booth’s pistol, which is thought to be used in the assassination of President Lincoln. DeWeese and Prescott were also allowed into the old Mission Control Center at the Kennedy Space Center.

Other notable participants in this year’s Space-themed Fireball Run included Shuttle Astronaut, Capt. Jon McBride; India’s first Cosmonaut, Cmdr. Rakesh Sharma; France’s first Astronaut, Major General Jean-Loup Chretien; and Brazil’s first Astronaut, Lt Col. Marcos Pontes.

About Integra Optics

Integra Optics is the nation’s fastest-growing fiber optic solutions provider and the #2 fastest-growing company in New York State’s Capital Region, according to the 2014 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies. Integra Optics has earned national recognition for its industry standard optical transceivers that are compatible with virtually all network platforms. Its deep portfolio of high-performance optical equipment also includes passives, fiber jumpers, and testing equipment. Integra Optics was voted a 2015 Top Workplace in the Albany-based Times Union newspaper, and is also the home for Toys-for-Tots in the Capital Region. Check out their website at IntegraOptics.com.