Travel Expenses for the Kona Ironman!
Donation protected
Sarah Kelly ("SK" to us) has always been an outstanding athlete, emerging as a top high school field hockey player in New Hampshire and earning All-American honors at Springfield College. Following college, she kept up her competitive spirit, running a Boston Marathon and delving into the world of triathlon. She has been competing each year since 2002 getting better and better each season, her best finishing 1st in her age group at the 70.3 in Syracuse with a time of 4:51:19. Sarah has been dedicating the last few years to training for the Ironman 70.3 and qualifying for a spot in the World Championships at Mont-Tremblat in Quebec, Canada. On May 4th, Sarah made her dream come true at the St. Croix Ironman 70.3 by qualifying not only for Mont-Treblant but also getting a spot in the Ironman 140.6 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii!
It is going to take a serious amount of training to compete in these events, but SK is up to the task. The bigger challenge will be funding her dream. Sarah unexpectedly lost her coaching job last January and was able to work under contract until June as a Strength Coach and Athletic Trainer. While Sarah has a great new opportunity as The Director of Team Programing at Continuum Performance Center in East Longmeadow, this is just a part-time job. The harsh reality of being a competitive athlete is that it's expensive to enter races, not to mention traveling and staying over before competitions! Entry fees for Worlds and Kona are close to $1,500 and with flights and hotel costs reaching over $4,000 plus food and shipping her bike out to Kona she is looking closer to $ 10,000 to compete in both of these events. Sarah might not get another chance to fulfill this amazing dream. Without sponsorship (not yet at least ;0)), we are looking to help her get there. With her involvement with CPC she will be able to train and dedicate her workouts for this opportunity over the next 6 months but we are asking for help with her travel expenses for Quebec and Kona !!!
Sarah has truly embodied our Springfield College motto, Spirit Mind & Body, by incorporating it into her lifestyle and inspiring others to pursue their own success whether excelling in the weight room, on a tough ruck course, or on the game field! Help us to help Sarah!!
It is going to take a serious amount of training to compete in these events, but SK is up to the task. The bigger challenge will be funding her dream. Sarah unexpectedly lost her coaching job last January and was able to work under contract until June as a Strength Coach and Athletic Trainer. While Sarah has a great new opportunity as The Director of Team Programing at Continuum Performance Center in East Longmeadow, this is just a part-time job. The harsh reality of being a competitive athlete is that it's expensive to enter races, not to mention traveling and staying over before competitions! Entry fees for Worlds and Kona are close to $1,500 and with flights and hotel costs reaching over $4,000 plus food and shipping her bike out to Kona she is looking closer to $ 10,000 to compete in both of these events. Sarah might not get another chance to fulfill this amazing dream. Without sponsorship (not yet at least ;0)), we are looking to help her get there. With her involvement with CPC she will be able to train and dedicate her workouts for this opportunity over the next 6 months but we are asking for help with her travel expenses for Quebec and Kona !!!
Sarah has truly embodied our Springfield College motto, Spirit Mind & Body, by incorporating it into her lifestyle and inspiring others to pursue their own success whether excelling in the weight room, on a tough ruck course, or on the game field! Help us to help Sarah!!
Organizer
Liz DeSimas
Organizer
Cos Cob, CT
