Dec 16th 2005

Boston, Friday, December 16th,

Dear all,

This “RAAM for HIV Vaccine Project 2005” is now over. The cocktail reception went very well. Pictures taken at the kick off of the project In March at the Langham Hotel in Boston and during the race has been shown. They are all finally available on the website, and as you’ll see, some of them are just awesome. Dr Norman Letvin gave a very interesting talk about the HIV Vaccine Research. Finally, my daughter Estelle presented the check of the fundraising to Dr Bruce Walker. The final amount raised for the project is $17,230. In the coming weeks, I’ll be able to tell you how the money will be spent.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank once again all the donors for their contribution, the sponsors for giving me the chance to do this incredible project, all the people who helped me along the way, my crew who did an incredible job, and of course my family who supported me no matter what.

OK, so what’s next? It’s been very difficult to set up a project like that from scratch. Basically, everything was new to me: the fundraising world, finding sponsors, building the website, talking to people, convince the media that this project is worth an article, and on top of that find the time to train for this crazy race. However, it has been a fantastic experience and I met great people along the way. And I think it would be a shame to stop this adventure now. All this hard work and support from many people is definitely worth another try. I guess Perseverance is THE word. But I’m not completely nuts, so the plan is to do RAAM in 2006 as part of a team of 4 riders. Because it’s basically a relay, each rider does 1/4 the distance a solo rider would do. So, it’s much more “enjoyable”, a lot faster (5-6 days to cross the country), and much less risky. And it would give me the speed and the experience that I would need to do RAAM as a solo rider in 2007.

I’m working on the Team right now. I found 2 very fast riders, and part of my crew this year will be back again next year. They are all very motivated about RAAM and the fundraising. Because of course, there will be a fundraising again for HIV Vaccine Research. However, I need to find the budget. So if you would like to become a sponsor, please contact me at Patrick@patrickautissier.org or call me at 617-667-1562.

This “RAAM for HIV Vaccine Project 2005”, although very special in my heart, is the Chapter 1 of a great story. If you were part of this first chapter, please continue this adventure with me. For those of you who would like to join us, there will always be room for you.

Thank you and happy holidays,

Patrick

Latest Update, Sept 15th, 2007

patrickautissier.org