Scenes like this are going to be commonplace at the Rocky Mountain Regional Airport later this month and at the World War II Aviation Museum in Colorado Springs next month.

Brian Johnson/Courtesy Special Olympics Colorado

There’s a certain amount of effort involved in pulling an airplane and in helping your community.

Tim Miner, the Special Olympics Colorado Male Athlete of the Year, likes to do both, so he'll be pulling an airplane along a runway to help Special Olympics of Colorado.

“I love helping my community,” Miner said.

He'll be front and center at this year’s fundraisers for the state’s Special Olympics athletes. The first is Aug. 27 at Rocky Mountain Municipal Airport in Broomfield. The second is Sept. 10, at the National Museum of WWII Aviation, 755 Aviation Way in Colorado Springs.

Miner and other athletes and community members compete to see which team can pull a plane the fastest and raise money for Special Olympics. Teams participating this year include the Denver Police.

“On behalf of the Academy, I will say that we love being partnered with a great organization that loves and provides for people, especially those who may often be overlooked,” said G. Todd Gentry, a technician with the Denver Police Department. “We love the fact that by partnering with (Special Olympics), it fits within our mission statement and core values where we value human life, where everyone matters, and we treat people with dignity and respect.

“We thoroughly enjoy the fundraising aspect. It provides financial support to (Special Olympics) but it also gives us an opportunity to provide each Denver Police Department recruit with a challenge that is outside the box of typical ‘police work.’”

According to organizers, each location has a unique vibe and both offer a thrill that is hard to find anywhere else in Colorado. Teams will be pulling a G-IV jet in Broomfield and a historical WWII plane in Colorado Springs.

All money raised will provide year-round training and athletic competition to more than 15,000 Colorado athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Each event features a Strong Human challenge, where people can see if they have enough to pull a prop plane on their own. Kids who raise $30 in donations will have the chance to compete in the Truck Tug in the Young Athletes Adventure Zone. There will be food, vendors and music, too.

Special Olympics is still registering participants for the plane pull. For those on the fence about participating, Gentry had some words of encouragement.

“Every event we have been a part of has been fun for all of us and, with it, lifelong memories and a participation in being part of a legacy,” he said.

Register at https://specialolympicsco.org/planepull/