Daniel's Olympic training fund
Donation protected
Competing in the Olympics has always been a dream of mine and since graduating from Cornell University in 2012 I’ve been doing all I can to keep that dream alive. Until recently this meant training whenever possible, mostly by myself, while working a full-time job. Despite long hours working and limited training I’ve been able to remain competitive in my event (800m for Mexico) but feel I have been leaving a lot on the table by not fully dedicating to my sport.
With 2016 being an olympic year, this past May the decision was made to leave my position as an operations manager at the Uber offices in Mexico City to train full time. Without the demands of 60-hour work week, finding the time to train is no longer an issue. The issue now is to train at the highest level possible and put myself in the best position to succeed. This has been something discussed at length for the past two years with my former track coach at Cornell, Kevin Thompson.
Coach Thompson as some of you reading this might know is very involved with a couple of non-profits in Kenya and has close ties to the Kenyan track and field community. As a result we’ve decided that my best chance at success would be to travel to and train in Iten, Kenya during the remainder of this year into the beginning of 2016 in order to be ready for the upcoming season. Also known as “The Home of Champions,” Iten sits at high altitude and is free of the air pollution found in most major cities. This combination makes it an ideal training environment for endurance runners.
Along with Russell Dinkins from Princeton (yes Cornell’s archrival!) I will be relocating to Iten this fall, and together we will chase our mutual dream of representing our countries in the Rio Olympics next summer. We both have received a tremendous amount of emotional support from those around us, but as amateur athletes we have received limited access to funding.
It is the most difficult thing to ask of anyone, especially those of you I know and respect, but your support however small or large is going to make the difference this year. Thank you for taking the time out to read up to this point. Russell and I would be lucky to have you as part of our Olympic dream.
Thank you for all the love and support.
With 2016 being an olympic year, this past May the decision was made to leave my position as an operations manager at the Uber offices in Mexico City to train full time. Without the demands of 60-hour work week, finding the time to train is no longer an issue. The issue now is to train at the highest level possible and put myself in the best position to succeed. This has been something discussed at length for the past two years with my former track coach at Cornell, Kevin Thompson.
Coach Thompson as some of you reading this might know is very involved with a couple of non-profits in Kenya and has close ties to the Kenyan track and field community. As a result we’ve decided that my best chance at success would be to travel to and train in Iten, Kenya during the remainder of this year into the beginning of 2016 in order to be ready for the upcoming season. Also known as “The Home of Champions,” Iten sits at high altitude and is free of the air pollution found in most major cities. This combination makes it an ideal training environment for endurance runners.
Along with Russell Dinkins from Princeton (yes Cornell’s archrival!) I will be relocating to Iten this fall, and together we will chase our mutual dream of representing our countries in the Rio Olympics next summer. We both have received a tremendous amount of emotional support from those around us, but as amateur athletes we have received limited access to funding.
It is the most difficult thing to ask of anyone, especially those of you I know and respect, but your support however small or large is going to make the difference this year. Thank you for taking the time out to read up to this point. Russell and I would be lucky to have you as part of our Olympic dream.
Thank you for all the love and support.
Organiser
Daniel Thomas
Organiser
San Diego, CA
