Feature
DUEL IN THE POOL
Editor’s note: Mary Eggers challenged Lance Armstrong to a 50-meter kick race earlier this spring to raise money for Teens Living with Cancer. Armstrong accepted and through the event, they raised $51,000.
I
t’s not often that I struggle to find the words to say after an event. This time I am struggling. It was so much more amaz- ing than we could have ever imagined. Sit back, grab a good latte, and thank you for allowing me to share this experience with you. THE RACE I don’t have much to say about the de- tails of the race. It’s really well documented as many of you have seen and read. First things first… we need to be hon- est… Mr. Armstrong was gracious in this competition. He had very good reason to come here and kick my [butt]. I have done a lot of trash talking. Now I won’t say he threw the race. He might have eased up slightly… but he made me work for that win. With all due respect he’s much more talented than me, he is a swimmer as he’s come back to triathlon, and he could have absolutely destroyed me. I am not even a good kicker. Let’s give proper credit here, he knew
why he was here and it was much more important than a 50 kick. I knew that whatever game he brought, I had to bring my A-game. You don’t dare a seven-time Tour de France winner and bring a B- game. (My A-game might be his D-game, but that’s life.)
So a big kudos to Mr. Armstrong for
having the graciousness to make it fun, and for making me work for it. Believe me I did. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO MEET LANCE ARMSTRONG?
Believe it or not I wasn’t that nervous.
We’d been in contact before the race and even that morning. The amount of people who were in the lounge we were wait- ing in made me nervous. As soon as he walked in, he shook my hand — I think he gave me a hug but my memory is not clear — and I felt at ease.
I have always been mindful to not be that fan who rushes up to him screaming “Oh my gawd I am your biggest fan” and rattle off his stats. I am sure he knows his stats and if he doesn’t, well then there is always Google. I was careful to give him space, because everyone wanted his at- tention, wanted him to do this and that, so I backed off as much as possible. I did have the opportunity to talk to him and I kept it about the event and I made sure to let him know we have raised $51,000 as of an hour before the event. He was re- ally happy about. THAT was speaking his language.
I found him to be very kind, gracious and very interested to meet the teens. He shook all of their hands and took a photo with them after the race. They were totally over the moon. They had a poolside spot for the whole thing. One of the girls said to me, “I just hugged Lance Armstrong.” That’s how it should be. THE MONEY Mr. Armstrong talked about the obliga- tion of the cured. He told the story of the
By Mary Eggers
doctor who on the day of his discharge told him that there were two exits from the hospital. The private one, where no one knows you were here, no one knows you had cancer, and you quietly go on about your life. The other door is the pub- lic door. Where there are people waiting for you and you share your story, listen to others and essentially “pay it forward” when it comes to cancer. He chose the public door. Thank God. Thank God he did. We have so much power as a human race, especially today, to help one anoth- er. We raised $51,000 without the help of any local running store or bike store. To be fair, I am sure everyone comes to stores asking for donations. There are budgets and economies and each does their own thing for charity. So I totally understand. I just want to make this point: we did it on small donations.
Ever hear the story of the optimist and the pessimist? While the optimist and the pessimist were arguing whether the glass is half full or half empty, the opportunist snuck in and drank the water. While peo- ple are out there debating on the value of social media, we snuck in there and used it to stage one of the greatest fundraising coups ever seen. We had one anonymous donor give us $5,000. Our teammates pooled together their money at Qt2 and donated another 5k. The Zimmet group matched total donations for a total I be- lieve that was $2500. One woman donat- ed $10 five times over the past 5
CONTINUED ON PAGE 66
USATRIATHLON.ORG USA TRIATHLON 65
Photos by Steve Morse/Onsight Photography
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