|
© Copyright 2007 Athletes Racing for Charity. Inc. all right reserved. Latest Update, Sept 15th, 2007 |
|
Team RAAM 2006 |
|
For journalists, click here Patrick’s report Press Release June 9th, click here Eric’s report
Article in the UltraCycling Magazine, Dec 2006 Article in the UltraCycling Magazine, Sept 2006 Article in the Boston Globe, July 30th, 2006 Article in the Belmont Citizen Herald, July 5th, 2006 Article in the Falmouth Enterprise, July 4th, 2006 Article in the Framingham TAB, June 30th, 2006 Article in the Metro West Daily news, June 15th, 2006
Boston, June 9th, 2006
Dear all,
We will be leaving Boston tomorrow morning for Oceanside, CA. So, before focusing entirely on the race, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who helped us set up this project. First of all, many thanks go to the major sponsors of the team Athletes Racing for Charity: Becton-Dickinson, Axel Johnson, ISAC, Tree Star and Coherent. Without them, nothing would have been possible, and we’re very proud to race under their names. Second of all, many thanks go to our partners: Boston Accueil, the French Consulate of Boston, Biotrue, ATA cycle and Spiz. One person has played a very big role in helping us on many details of the project, working tirelessly in order for us to race in good condition. His name is John McClellan, and the entire team is very proud and honored to know him. There are no words for what he has done for us. Finally, we want to thank our families for supporting us in this big endeavor. The last months have been very tough for them, and we can’t thank them enough for their support, but hopefully everything will be done in less than 10 days! And they will be able to rest and relax….with us.
We’ll try once again to post daily reports on the website (under Race Update), but at the same time, you can send us emails during the race at pautissi@bidmc.harvard.edu or Patrick@patrickautissier.org
So now, let’s ROCK N’ ROLL! Team Athletes Racing for Charity
Boston, June 5th, 2006
Dear all,
Team Athletes Racing for Charity has been very busy over the last weeks, setting up, training for the big ride, and trying to get everything under control. Now that we’re just 8 days before the start, let me give you an update.
1. ISAC meeting in Quebec City:
Pr. Paul Robinson (President of ISAC), Stephen Lewis (UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa), Patrick Autissier.
I’ve been invited by Pr. Robinson, President of the International Society of Analytical Cytology, to the ISAC meeting held in Quebec City last week to present our team ARC project. I had a booth inside of the Convention Centre where I could give details of the project and fundraising to the attendees. However, the highlight of this invitation was for me the tremendous opportunity to present our project to the entire congress (more than 1,300 attendees), just before Stephen Lewis’ lecture entitled: “Science and Advocacy: The Best Hope to Defeat the Pandemic of AIDS”. Stephen Lewis, Canadian of the Year in 2003, and in 2005 one of TIME magazines 100 Most Influential People in The World, was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as his Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa in 2001. His description of the situation in Africa regarding the pandemic was so incredibly powerful and emotional that we all felt we were in Africa for an hour. The quality of life over there is very different from what we are familiar with. Access to drugs for HIV infected people, despite tremendous efforts from non-profit organizations like PIH or the Stephen Lewis Foundation, is still very limited. Stephen Lewis has urged everyone at the meeting to get involved (money, advocacy, science) to get rid of this pandemic. And this is exactly the message that Team Athletes Racing for Charity want to pass along.
2. Fundraising for PIH and NLG:
Well, let’s be honest. The fundraising is going very slow. I know that there are thousands of different great charities and many causes to fight for. So, why donating to Partners In Health (PIH) and Nashoba Learning Group (NLG)? I think the real question is why not? What I am asking for is $10 per person. Is it really too much to ask? $10 for most of us is nothing, just 3 cups of coffee, or 3 gallons of gas. So please, drink more water (in parts of Africa, they don’t even have drinkable water!), do more exercise, and make a donation to your selected charity. You’ll feel better physically and your contribution will make a huge difference to people who don’t have the luxury to live in the western countries or people who fight against autism. Again, 100% of your contribution will go to PIH and/or NLG. Go to www.team-arc.org on how to make donations.
3. Training:
We’ve done a RAAM style team training several weeks ago. Basically, it’s a relay of 4 riders where each rider does a 20 minute pull at full speed. We have had very bad weather, especially at night, but it was a very good training for both the riders and the crew members. We have ridden 400 miles at 20 mph. Usually the best team on RAAM average between 20 and 22 mph. So, this was encouraging for us. All in all, the 4 riders are in very good shape, despite a very busy schedule between work, family, and training. Nobody has been sick during the training period, and that’s a good sign. Now, we’re tapering, doing 1-2 hours of easy training every other day. This week, we need to get plenty of rest and sleep in order to have our “tank” full before the start.
4. Logistics:
Tomorrow, part of the crew and Ed Kross, one of the rider, will leave Boston and drive west to Oceanside, CA with the 3 rented vans, already loaded with all of our stuff (8 bikes, spare wheels, equipments, etc…). The 3 riders and the remaining of the crew will fly out to San Diego next weekend. Then during the 2 days prior to the start, we’ll have to finish the set up of the van, pass the vehicle/bike inspection and get used to the RAAM route and the 3,000 miles of directions to follow! Finally, the race will officially start on Tuesday, June 13th at 5:00 pm EST…
More newsletters will follow, and we’ll try to send or post on our website daily reports during the race. But for the time being, I’d like you to forward this newsletter to your family, colleagues, local media, contacts, and also post on your blog and/or website if you have one. The more people know about Athletes Racing for Charity, the more chance we have to get a successful fundraising.
Thank you very much for your help,
Patrick Autissier
April 19th, 2006
We’re 8 weeks prior to the start of the 2006 Race Across America. The four riders are starting a high intensity training in a couple of weeks, and hope to “peak” the third week of June. We will be doing this Saturday a 600K training with part of the crew, in order to test different vehicle configuration to be used on RAAM. We will be riding all night for the first time of the year. So it’s going to be more a crew training than rider’s training. But eh! 600K, meaning 375 Miles, is still something, right? We will be riding west to Bennington, VT, not far from Albany, NY. I’ll bring my digital camera and will take some pictures of us in action. I’ll post them hopefully next week.
Patrick |
