Charlie's Triathalon

It started as a joke around a Sunday dinner at my parents' house. I mentioned that next summer I want to train for a sprint triathalon and would love it if anyone would join me. Everyone's blank expressions and Hilary's question of "Why the heck would we want to do that?" was an obvious answer. But then my dad, the most laid back funny guy ever, said, "Yeah... if I could bike downhill, swim downstream and walk a mile at the end." Everyone laughed and forgot about it.

So today he took me out to breakfast between classes and said, "So I'm serious about the triathalon. I want to call it 'Charlie's triathalon'. We would coast down Provo Canyon from the top, float down the Provo river in tubes/whatever, and walk downhill for about a mile. I want to get hundreds of people to sign up, have an entrance fee, give away t-shirts and snacks and have it all sponsored. And I want all the proceeds to go towards a charity, like the Huntsman Cancer Research Institute. I want everyone who has ever wanted to say they've done a triathalon, but who don't want to commit to the training to be able to do it. It wouldn't be about the competition, it would be about the charity."

Now we're really considering the idea of creating this triathalon. Obviously it would be do-able for ANYONE. We are thinking about doing it next summer in June. So I'm blogging about it because anyone who reads this, I would LOVE to hear any ideas you have. We want this to be a big community event. Like radio stations advertising for it, sign ups on college campuses, whole church groups involved, etc. If you have connections in sponsorship possibilities, ideas for how to make the actual race work, where exactly to hold everything, advice from past experience with charity events, what charity is deserving, or ANY idea, we want to hear it!! Even if you just think its a stupid or good idea. We want it to be fun, have a huge element of humor but benefit the community.

So please! Anyone! Tell me what you think. It's only an idea right now, so we're open to anything!