As most of you know, the bushfires that have raged through Australia over the last few months have seen millions of hectares destroyed, millions of animals killed and thousands of people losing their homes and possessions.

Last year, both of us took up the challenge and registered for the 2020 Half Ironman triathlon which will take place on May 3rd in Port Macquarie, NSW.  The race involves a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.2km run … and a lot of training to get there!

We are willing to convert the amount of training and sweat into concrete impact and help for local communities and families being currently affected by the NSW bushfires. 

We have therefore chosen to contribute to the St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) Bushfire Appeal. Vinnies is on the ground helping people as they deal with the immediate aftermath of fires, and will continue to be there as they rebuild their lives in the long term.

For the following donation amounts, Vinnies will be able to:
+ $50 AUD: Provide food, essential items and grocery vouchers for people who have lost everything
+ $150 AUD: Pay unexpected bills as people work through the recovery process
+ $ 300 AUD: Provide clothing for a family who had to leave all their belongings behind
+ $1,100 AUD: Help those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed to set up again with bedding, furniture and appliances 
But also any donation can also contribute to make referrals onto a range of other organisations providing crisis accommodation and specialised services, give much-needed emotional support, as well as practical assistance to pick up the pieces after homes are lost.

For each km of training, each of us will contribute $1 AUD. Our preliminary estimate is that we will each train around 2,500 km across the 3 sports. At the end of each week of training, we will count the number of km we have trained and we will contribute the relevant amount to the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal.

We hope that between the two of us, we will be able to contribute a total of $5,000 AUD to Vinnies throughout the 17 weeks of training leading up to the day of the race.

Please help us raise funds to match our donations and efforts. Our goal is for each 1 dollar we will contribute, we will raise 2 dollars. This should enable us to contribute a total of $15,000 AUD to the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal.

Better still......If you have a 2020 goal in mind, be it a 5km run, Sprint Triathlon or Ironman Event, why not join our team and be a part of our #Sweat2Restore initiative too. Let's get fit together whilst raising money for those that need our support! You can contact us with the "contact" link  below so we can add you to the page and get your fundraising started!

Thank you all for your support and generosity.

Keep posted on our #Sweat2Restore campaign with updates on our training and fundraising ! 

Alex & Yasmin