Ironman and the Philippines
I got a voice message from WTC’s CEO, Andrew Messick, and it was one of those cryptic messages I get from him from time to time. It was not business as usual. This was a message with a meaning I could not divine. So I called Andrew back and I could tell from his tone (Andrew would not be a good poker player) that this was something serious and personal. He wanted Slowtwitch, and Slowtwitchers, to join forces with Ironman in helping with the Typhoon Haiyan disaster (and it’s nothing if not a disaster) going on there right now.
Yes, there is the Ironman Foundation, and yes, there is money raised through Ironman that is not necessarily from Ironman. For all the corporateness of the WTC, and notwithstanding the private equity ownership structure of WTC (which occasionally, and understandably, invites scrutiny), this one is from the heart.
Triathlon is booming right now in the Philippines. While triathlon, and Ironman in particular, has not always gotten traction in Southeast Asia and the island nations off the mainland (such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia) it is time for triathlon in the Philippines. That 70.3 in the Philippines sells out quickly. I just hosted a fitter from the Philippines at my most recent F.I.S.T. Bike Fit Workshop, and I’m hosting another who’s flying in from the Philippines at my next workshop. Why triathlon? Why there? Why now? Don’t know, but they’re riding the wave and I’m for riding it with them. I get a sense that maybe Andrew Messick has that same warm spot for a country and a community who’s turning tri crazy.
And then Typhoon Haiyan happened. WTC’s press release noted, “673,000 people were displaced (300,000 of those are children).”
Ironman is selling t-shirts, for $30, and I kept waiting to hear about the “partner” in this initiative – the one donating the t-shirts. When I didn’t hear the partner’s name, I asked. No partner. WTC’s buying the Ts and all $30 is going for hurricane relief in the Philippines. The charity to whom the money will go is Gawad Kalinga, which means to "give care" in Filipino, and is a Philippine non-profit dedicated to fighting poverty. The charity’s mission is to “end poverty for 5 million families by 2024. Land for the landless. Homes for the homeless. Food for the Hungry.”
Each t-shirt, it is claimed, will feed a family of 5 for a month, and Ironman’s goal is to sell 1000 t-shirts.
My goal, and I hope you’ll join with me, is for the Slowtwitch community to buy 1000 shirts. You will buy them here, at the Ironman online store. There is an opportunity on that page to donate more, if you’d like.
We have a poll on the right side of the Slowtwitch page and of the Slowtwitch Reader Forum. I would be personally obliged to each of you who takes a second to participate in that poll (it’s simply the click of a radio button, just like all our reader polls).
