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The foundation was named Tuesday as the official charity of the 2014 Ironman Lake Placid and has 75 bibs available for triathletes. In exchange for the bib, triathletes have to raise $5,000 for the charity.
Triathletes also get a reduced entry fee, access to hotels near the start and finish line, beneficial transition areas and a whole host of perks for MMRF team members. Triathletes can register directly to compete for MMRF on the foundation website.
“Our whole tack is all focus, no drama,’’ said New Canaan’s Alicia O’Neill, the MMRF director of Endurance Events. “We think it’s a pretty good package, especially for people who are busy.”
Getting entry to the event is nearly as difficult as the event itself. Athletes who do not go through MMRF have to volunteer at this year’s race, register the next day by waiting in line and hope the race does not sell out.
“The MMRF is all about innovation, being on the cutting edge,’’ O’Neill said. “Those are that same type of people that compete in the Ironman. These people are all in. The word relentless is in our mission statement, and that’s the way Ironman athletes are. They’re driven, and those are the people we like on our team.”
O’Neill said the partnership developed out of last year’s New York City Ironman. The race lasted just one year in New York, primarily due to a host of logistical issues. O’Neill worked with Ironman to acquire bibs for this year’s race in Lake Placid, which will be held later this month. She also approached them about becoming the exclusive charity partner for 2014.
“People are very charity specific,’’ O’Neill said. “The model is really changing. We do the Empire State Building Run-Up, where we’re also the exclusive charity, and that’s a big hit for us. This is along that same vein.”
The MMRF also has bibs available for this year’s New York City Marathon, along with a host of other endurance events. The top fund-raiser for MMRF for Lake Placid in 2014 will also get a bib to the Ironman in Hawaii in 2014.
“We’d love to get some people from Fairfield County on the team so that they can train together,’’ O’Neill said. “We have a 99.5 percent success rate with people meeting the fund-raising target. We hired a full-time person to help people with fund-raising. It is not real difficult in this area to hit the fund-raising target.”
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