Some triathletes will be racing for a cause

Many forces drive the participants in this year’s Ironman Coeur d’Alene triathlon, including competition, will, ego and, some might say, a bit of insanity. But there’s another factor pushing some competitors: money.

Forty-five athletes participating in Sunday’s triathlon are raising money for the charity of their choice as part of the Janus Charity Challenge. Athletes do their own fund raising, and Janus Capitol Group, which runs the charity challenge, gives $2,000 to $10,000 to the top five fund-raisers.

The other highest fund-raisers will get $750 from Janus if their donations total at least $750. With only 45 athletes participating in the program this year, Janus spokeswoman Casey Cortese said, it’s likely all their charities will receive some money.

“It’s the extra motivational piece when you’ve got to do the training and it’s raining out. You think, “OK, we’re doing it for a good cause,’ ” said Spokane resident Keats McGonigal. McGonigal is one of nine participants from the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area.

He is raising money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Inland Northwest chapter. His wife, April, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about six months ago.

He set out to raise $5,000, but about two weeks before the race, he already had about $8,500. McGonigal and his wife work at Whitworth College as directors of a residence hall. The Whitworth student government learned what McGonigal was doing and stepped in to help with fund raising, he said.

Ironman Coeur d’Alene athletes have raised about $168,000 this year, and Cortese said she expects the total to be much higher after the race.

“We have a pretty competitive group, so a lot of the time they keep it a secret until it happens,” she said.

Athletes brought in $559,000 for charity last year; $458,000, the year before.

Bryan Ogle, chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce, is participating in his first Ironman this year. He’s raising money for the Court Appointed Special Advocates 1st Judicial District program, which represents children in court when their parents or guardians are in trouble with the law.

He said he has been involved in many organizations in town that could use money, but he “just knew that CASA could probably use a raising of awareness more than others.”

Ogle said there’s a misconception that the children involved with CASA are troubled.

“CASA is not about troubled children – it’s about helping children that are in troubled households,” he said.

Ogle has raised nearly $4,000 but said he is concentrating more on just getting the word out about the organization.

“If several hundred people are more aware of what CASA is and donate no money, then we won anyway,” he said.

Coeur d’Alene firefighter Mandy Jacques is raising money for the Kootenai County Juvenile Probation Mentoring Program. A mentor herself, Jacques has worked at past Ironman Coeur d’Alene competitions and was inspired to compete this year.

“If you’re around it long enough, you just have to do it,” she said.

Jacques has raised more than $1,500 for the mentoring program. She made Ironman T-shirts for fans to buy as part of her fund-raising effort; they are available at Sports Cellar on Sherman Avenue for $12.

Like McGonigal and Ogle, Jacques said her fund-raising efforts have been a source of inspiration.

“This is a little bit of a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach,” Jacques said about the mentoring program. “If we can keep (juveniles) out of our adult system, our community’s better off.”

Said Ogle about CASA, “I guess if I can go and gut it out for 17 hours and finish Ironman, that pales in significance to some of the battles these kids face.”