Community service and volunteering are very important roles that we expect each of our athletes to fulfill. Listed below is what our athletes have been up to this year.

Jennifer Rischard: Volunteered for the late shift at IMAZ TriSports.com run aid station. Thanks for the help Jen!

Brian Grasky: Brian volunteered at IMAZ on the run course and at the Firecracker Triathlon in Tucson.   In January Brian was involved with for the International Christian Triathlon Network’s 2^nd annual Triathlon Camp.  He coordinated the invitation of and speaking roles of pro athletes and coaches, spoke and gave clinics as a coach during the camp, and led workouts. He will participating in the same capacity for the camp in ’08.  He’s also writing training plans for the Endurance division of Fellowship of Christian Athletes—FCA-Endurance—as well.  They’ll be used for the FCA-E teammates in their training and racing ministry. Brian’s a busy guy!

Jeff and Jenni Keil: Jeff and Jenni are both involved with the Bolder Boulder Training Group Coaches.  Through this program, individuals sign up and are coached in groups of certain training/race goal speeds. They both have groups that meet once/twice a week at various locations around Boulder. These sessions occur periodically throughout the spring, summer and fall.  It has been a great way for them to give back through knowledge and the experiences they’ve had. Jeff and Jenni have discovered this to be a great way for new athletes to get to know other people and learn how to train correctly, as well as be a real positive presence in and around the Boulder area.

Jim Fuller: Jim was on the race committee for the 2007 Greeley Triathlon on June 10th. He was in charge of all of the accounting/finances for the event, designed the run course and the swim course, prepared the course descriptions and maps for the web site and the race packets, helped out at packet pick-up,  helped set the cones on the bike course, helped mark and set cones on the run course, was in charge of the Transition Area,  was in charge of the swim. Despite it taking up so much of his free and training time, he enjoyed every minute of the hard work and the race was a huge success with nothing but positive comments.  The race generated more than $10,000 to donate to four local youth groups.  In fact, the Greely Tri Club was able to present a $5,000 check to a scholarship fund for the kids of injured or killed Greeley Police.

Tracy Robertson-Frack: Tracy is part of a nation-wide  knitting group who donated over 1000 hats and other knitted items this past winter to low income schools for students who do not have winter clothing. Tracy herself was able to contribute 5 knit hats, and 10 scarves.

Craig Howie: Craig and his team of HEP athletes manned a run aid station at the 5430 Long Course Triathlon.  Craig made a TriSports.com theme out of the station and had a great time cheering on all the athletes out on the course.

Amy Rees: Amy along with her 2 sons and mother  were on hand at IMAZ this year to help out at one of the many aid stations along the way.  Amy also recruited her husband and sons to man the “Rees Family Aid Station” at mile 10 at the TriSports.com DeuceMan Triathlon while she was racing! Amy also volunteers her time as VP/Treasuer for her local triathlon club, helping organize the Atomic Man Duathlon and the local Splash and Dash Series.

Randy Stueve: After racing the TriSports.com DeuceMan Triathlon, Randy woke the next morning to volunteer out on the Deuces Wild Xterra bike course to cheer on the athletes who had volunteered for him the day before. Randy also was involved with helping secure sponsorship for the Durango Ironkids Triathlon as well as volunteer at the event on race day.

Mike Mullins: Mike had an awesome time volunteering at the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines. He was at the finish line catching athletes, helping them get water, collecting timing chips, etc. He is also headed back to IMWI to volunteer this year after he had such a great race there last year. 

Elizabeth and Christian Waterstraat: Liz and Chris have volunteered at the Multisport Madness Kids Triathlon over Memorial Day weekend for the past several years. This year they donated TriSports.com gift certificates and coupons to the race, and manned the transition area. Within this year’s very talented team of kids, the top boy and girl won the overall youth national championship titles in Longmont, Colorado. In addition, the Waterstraats took on a group of six women and coached/trained them to finish their first races through weekly workouts and individualized coaching plans. Liz also has gone through the training for become a Girls on the Run Coach to work with elementary-aged girls twice weekly after school so they can complete an upcoming 5K and improve confidence, self-esteem, communication skills, and emotional health. 

Craig Howie: In conjunction with his wife and business partner Jennifer, Craig and the Howie Endurance Project are continually looking for ways to give back to the community.  Recently, they held a silent auction to benefit the Challenged Athletes Foundation that raised a total of $4,100 at the event and brought their total team fundraising to $6,500.  They have also provided man-power for aid stations at both the 5430 Long Course Triathlon and the Boulder Marathon.  HEP has plans each month for volunteering opportunities.  Next up include assisting a build for Habitat for Humanity, and teaming up with Treats for our Troops and the Special Olympics.

Mike Mullins: After a fantastic race there last year, Mike felt compelled to head back this year to Ironman Wisconsin to volunteer. He kept quite busy assisting with the bike handoff, bike return and with the run special needs bags.  Though he did manage to find the time to take the shuttle out to Verona to cheer on the cyclists. While there, he got a taste of some local celebrity.