Thanks for that great thread Tom! I’m sure numerous people have been inspired and thought about things for a minute.
So, now that you’ve got something out endurance sport, what have you given back? If you can’t respond then it is time to do something about it.
For myself, i have served on the provincial governing body to triathlon as director of youth. Last summer i initiated a training program for youth aged 12-18. It ran from April to August, we swam weekly, biked twice weekly and ran twice weekly. I am lucky that i help coach a local track club and the head coach has kids and is into tri in BIG way, so we tacked on the running to already scheduled track workouts. The rest i organized and conducted, with some help most days. Best part was i got the governing body to pay for the pool time and the kids basically paid to be members of the association - 20 bucks. My training sucked but is was a great experience. I had kids with no athletic background, super athletes and everything in between. Overall it was fun, allot of work and rewarding.
Volunteered at an aid station at 2 races. That takes more out of you than one might think.
Does wasting countless hours on this forum count as giving back?
My mother did her first triathlon last summer, and her second one will be this August. She rode 1,000 miles on a Giant hybrid in one year. And then we got her a Serotta! I helped pay for some.
My sister and aunt did the same triathlon last summer, also their first.
Passing on this sport to others has been incredibly rewarding.
I’d like to do more. CAF seems like the GREATEST charity ever, and I’d like to find a way to help them through my own racing… I hope I can follow this up with “well done is better than well said.”
Although I won’t win any humanitarian awards for my contributions to date, I feel good that two of my daughters do triathlons and a third daughter wants to do one. Hopefully, I have instilled in them a lifetime desire to stay fit by exercising. Training for triathlons adds some “glamour” to the humdrum of daily exercise.
This is a good thread. I have found that giving back to the sport- even in a minor capacity, really is fun. It makes you feel like an insider- and that is a cool feeling.
This is an incredbile, incredible sport. The more you give to it, the more it gives back to you. I often think- I owe everything good in my life to this sport.
I haven’t done a thing for tri or cycling but I have spent countless hours supporting age group swimming as a parent volunteer, team board member and meet official.
If one could get paid by the hour for working with Hy-Tek Team Manager and Meet Manager I’d be a rich man.
