Gov. Malloy Takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge from his competitor in the November election, Tom Foley, and was doused with a bucket of ice water after finishing the MAAD Dash 5K road race in Stratford Saturday morning.

Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman had the honors of pouring the ice water over Malloy’s head.

Foley accepted the challenge from State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, who challenged Foley in his concession speech after losing the Republican gubernatorial primary election last Tuesday night.

The ALS ice bucket challenge has become a recent social media phenomenon. It was started in Massachusetts in honor of a former Boston College athlete Peter Frates who was diagnosed with the disease two years ago.

Here’s how it works — after a friend extends the challenge, that person has 24 hours to respond. If they fail to respond, they have to donate $100 to an ALS charity. If the challenge is accepted, a bucket of ice water is dumped over the person’s head, which is recorded and shared over social media. That person must then extend the same challenge to four friends.