Hi there – I just wanted to send you a little note about our fabulous training camp weekend in Edmonton. Last August, Dave and I were approached by Karen Frank and Kerry Nisbet from Cops 4 Cancer about the possibility of putting on a training camp for the Iron Cops members. Cops 4 Cancer are a group of athletes who race Subaru Ironman Canada and raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. In 2004, they raised over $800,000 – that was the year when Dave’s mother was diagnosed with cancer – and that was the year I became an honorary “iron cop”. We were inspired by these athletes and we wanted to be part of their 2006 journey to Subaru Ironman Canada and so the Cops 4 Cancer Iron Distance Camp was born!!!
Stephanie MacDonald, an Iron Cop from Edmonton, organized the camp logistics. The camp was based in Edmonton since most of the athletes were based there. The weather was meant to be questionable but we survived the forecast and managed to sneak in a long bike ride and a long run without a drop of rain. The Friday swim was wet and the Sunday swim was out due to lightening. We were all pretty tired anyway.
I was fortunate to be able to share my 9 years of Ironman racing and 17 years of triathlon with these 55 athletes. We had lots of great chats and question and answers and we shared many great snacks and meals. The organizing committee in Edmonton was brilliant in planning out all of our routes, providing aid and lunch and dinners. We got to meet some wonderful, talented athletes all racing for a cause.
One thing to look for at Subaru Ironman Canada is the father-son team of Kerry and Dale – Dale is 18 years old and is a son to be proud of! We told him about this 18 year old racing at IM Australia who was racing with his dad and who said that his goal was to beat his dad because – “To BE the man, you have to BEAT the man!” And so, Dale showed up on Sunday with a t-shirt with that slogan written on his back!!! He plans to have t-shirts made up for Subaru Ironman Canada with that theme inscribed!!! Look out for Dale!!!
It was a fantastic sharing weekend. Big thanks to Subaru for supporting Cops 4 Cancer, supporting our camp and providing our fantastic camp t-shirts. Also to PowerBar for fuelling all of our athletes and to Tri Dubai for supporting Cops 4 Cancer as my official charity at Subaru Ironman Canada. And a thank you to all the Iron Cop volunteers – Karen, Murray, Kerry, James, Rob, Claudia, Jessica and Stephanie – who made the weekend happen without a single glitch!
You can read the Edmonton Journal story here.
For more information about the Iron Cops for Cancer, please visit www.ironcopsbc.com
Lisa