Categorized | Multi-sport, Volunteering

Janus Charity Challenge athletes compete as families

(Editor’s note: For readers who clicked here expecting sports results. Yup, Chrissie Wellington blew them all away again in Kansas … even with another flat tire. And Craig Alexander ran down Chris Lieto again … somewhere in Idaho. Local coverage at: 

www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/jun/14/bell-wellington-take-home-ironman-crowns/?breaking

and

www.idahostatesman.com/mobile/story/801650.html and awesome photos at: www.idahostatesman.com/258/gallery/801742.html)

MEDIA RELEASE

The adjectives that describe the Ironman experience range from challenging and inspiring to extreme and ambitious. Yet another accurate descriptor of Ironman is solitary.

Long hours of training can result in lost hours with friends and families, making an athlete’s personal pursuit feel, at times, like a solitary struggle. Yet, while the journey to Ironman is lonely, an increasing number of athletes are finding ways to involve friends and family — on and off the racecourse.

One way is the Janus Charity Challenge. Developed by Janus, a global investment management firm and Ironman sponsor, this fundraising program provides athletes the opportunity to enhance and share their experience with others by racing for a charitable organization to which they have a close personal connection.

For Preston Files, a 27-year-old marketing professional who will attempt his first Ironman at this year’s Lake Placid, choosing a charity was easy. 

Ironically, Preston’s decision to register for Ironman happened at about the same time his younger brother Alan, a computer engineer, signed on with Samaritan’s Purse, a U.S.-based charity providing food, medicine and other assistance to people around the world who are poor, sick and suffering. 

Among the international volunteer opportunities available through Samaritan’s Purse was an assignment in Hijabe, Africa, where Alan hoped to apply his computer skills toward helping set up a management information system for a hospital there. But he needed money to fund the trip.

“It was as if a light bulb suddenly went on,” Preston recalls. “This was what I was meant to do — race for Samaritan’s Purse in support of my brother.”

After a few e-mail exchanges and conversations with organizers at Samaritan’s Purse, it was arranged so that all of the money Preston raises through the Janus Charity Challenge will go directly to his brother’s volunteer efforts. 

“Alan would’ve had to raise the money to make the trip anyway, and one way or another I was going to do Ironman Lake Placid, so combining my love of racing with his desire to do missionary work through Samaritan’s Purse was really a no-brainer,” Preston said. 

At the core of Preston’s fundraising campaign is a humorous yet heartfelt YouTube video that tells an entertaining story about how the temporary convergence of each brother’s respective interests is helping them achieve their individual goals. 

Preston’s hope is family and friends will continue to share his video through e-mail forwards, generating enough interest and donations to help him raise $10,000 by race day. If his fundraising totals are in the top 50 of all Janus Charity Challenge athletes competing that day, Janus will make an additional contribution to his charity.     

“I’ve raced for charity before and discovered that the more people you involve or reach out to through your fundraising efforts, the less you feel like a loner on the racecourse,” Preston said. “I also have the satisfaction of knowing that even if I don’t cross the finish line in under 17hours, together, my brother and I have already made a difference.”

Two other athletes planning to make a family affair of the Ironman are Jeanne and Chris Bauer. 

Not only do the husband and wife team plan to cross the Madison, Wisc., finish line together but Jeanne’s sister and brother-in-law will also be racing. 

Jeanne, a stay-at-home mother of two and avid triathlete, recalls making the decision to race Ironman while she was several months pregnant and watching Chris from the sidelines at Ironman Wisconsin in 2007. 

“I felt a little left out,” she said. “I’d been doing triathlons a couple of years before Chris and, although I was excited for him, I was envious that he was doing his first Ironman before me and without me. I vowed then that next time I wouldn’t be on the sidelines.”

Jeanne and Chris have participated in races together, yet never side by side. Given the time and distance required to complete an Ironman, they decided this was the race to do it. 

“It’ll help to have each other nearby — make it a little easier,” Chris said.

But helping each other isn’t their only goal. 

They intend to help others by racing for charity through the Janus Charity Challenge. 

Chris will be pairing his race with fundraising for Tri-ing for Children, an organization that raises money for children’s hospitals, and Jeanne plans to raise money for a start-up nonprofit called HER PATH, which helps women in need become leaders within their communities via workshops, retreats and mentorship programs designed to assist them through some of life’s obstacles.

Unfortunately, racing together doesn’t mean Jeanne and Chris get to train together. If the opportunity arises, they jump at it. 

However, for the most part, they’ve had to modify their training regimen to accommodate each other, their two- and five-year old boys. 

“We still share the experience through conversation,” said Chris, who in addition to being a dentist is Jeanne’s coach. “We talk a lot about our training and understand what the other is going through more than we did before.”

As for when they expect to cross the finish line on race day, Jeanne would rather not make any predictions. 

“I just want to have a feel-good day,” she said. “But no matter when it is, we’ll be fulfilled knowing our effort went to helping others through our fundraising.” 

To learn more about opportunities to share and experience Ironman through the Janus Charity Challenge, visit www.januscharitychallenge.com.   

(Consider the charges, risks, expenses and investment objectives carefully before investing. For a prospectus containing this and other information, please call Janus at 1-877-33-JANUS or download the file from www.janus.com. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.)

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