Friends:
Lee here. Great doings these last few weeks, so let’s get
started:
August 7: The USA Triathlon Women’s Committee
honored Cherie with the “Spirit of Judy Flannery Award” at
their annual Athlete of the Year dinner in Milwaukee. From the
press release:
The USA Triathlon Women’s Committee is pleased to announce
Cherie Gruenfeld, from Cathedral City, Calif., as the winner of
the 2014 Spirit of Judy Flannery Award. Established in 1997, the
award honors Judy Flannery, a Grand Masters multisport athlete,
who served as the first Women's Commission chair and was
tragically killed in a bike accident.
“The Women’s Committee is proud to reintroduce this award
in Judy’s memory and to continue her legacy of outstanding women
competing in and serving our sport,” said Tara Comer, Chair of
the Women’s Committee. “We received several outstanding
nominations and the committee selected Cherie based on the
criteria — excellence in multisport, high moral character, and
commitment to use triathlon experiences in service to our
sport.”
Gruenfeld, one of the most celebrated Grand Master triathletes,
who recently aged up to 70-74, has a long string of athletic
honors: 11 Ironman World Championship titles with several course
records, Ironman 70.3 World Champion (2012), a nine-time World #1
ranked Amateur Ironman Triathlete, USA Triathlon Female
Grandmaster of the Year (2001, 2007), and she is a multi-time USA
Triathlon All-American. In addition, she is a coach, motivational
speaker, and author of “Becoming an Ironman.”
Gruenfeld has inspired many through her work as the founder and
director of Exceeding Expectations Foundation, a non-profit based
in San Bernardino, Calif., that serves an inner-city population
and encourages at-risk kids to move their lives in a positive
direction, using the sport of triathlon as the vehicle.
After
being introduced by USA Triathlon board president Barry Siff,
Cherie receives a beautiful cut glass bowl
presented by paratriathlete Melissa Stockwell, the first female
U.S. soldier to lose a limb in the Iraq War.
Photo
by Brenda Barrera
August 19th: The San
Bernardino City Unified School
District Board of Education gave special recognition and
appreciation to the Exceeding Expectations Foundation, its
volunteers and its students. Each of the kids was given a
certificate, and Cherie was invited to address the Board and all
in attendance. Read the full story here.
Also, take a look at the beautiful video (here)
made for us by Jim Hawks, of Circle Take Media, which was shown at
the Board meeting before the kids were brought up to the front.
August 13th: Volunteers
Trailer Craig and Brad & Ryan Harris, friend-of-the-kids David
Brenner and I took college-bound Anthony and Jesus to see the
Angels whup the Phillies. Jesus is going to Cal State San
Bernardino and will remain an Angels fan, but we’re concerned
that Anthony, who is headed to Cal State East Bay, might fall in
with the wrong crowd and become a Giants or (heaven forbid)
Athletics fan. We can only hope that being a member of Exceeding
Expectations has taught him to recognize the right way to be.
Brad celebrates the first of four Angels runs
with Anthony and Jesus as Trailer Craig looks on:
Ryan was determined to learn how to properly a
score a game,
and had the perfect teacher in David.
August 15th: Our great friends
at the Talbert Family Foundation started a wonderful tradition a
few years ago of giving us two brand new bikes every year.
Christian is the latest EE kid to benefit. Does he look happy, or
what?
August 31: After this morning’s run training
(last session before our “Race for CAF”), the kids urged
Cherie to take the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS, with brothers
Anthony & Joseph volunteering to do the dumping. The “one
dollar from everyone” she mentions refers to every EE kid
kicking in a buck, which we’ll combine and send to our good
friends at the Blazeman
Foundation for ALS. Bob and Mary Ann Blais are pioneers in the
War on ALS, and several years ago established the “Blazeman
Memorial Scholarship” for EE kids in memory of their son, John
Blais.
Click here or on
the photo below to see Isi Ibarra’s YouTube video of the Coach
getting a bucketful.
Just for fun
Remember this 2004 photo (left) of 10-year-old
Isi Ibarra running with Cherie? Three weeks ago during summer run
training I took a new picture of the two of them in exactly the
same location. Isi, all grown up, is now a freshman at Riverside
Community College and a cross-country star on their track team.
And then there are two of my favorite EE photos
of all time (below), taken by our friend Rick Dressler. That’s
Brandon Holguin, too young and scared to swim on his own, being
carried across the pool by Cherie. Below them is Brandon today, a
U.S. Army paratrooper who doesn’t look like he’s afraid of
anything.
Coming up in two weeks: Our annual multi-distance
race to see which five kids get to attend the Challenged Athletes
Foundation’s San Diego Triathlon Challenge on October 19 in La
Jolla, California.
Thanks, as always, for your generous support of
the kids. Hope you’re all having a great summer.
-lee
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