Greg Ball for The North County Times
June 10, 2009
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Jeff Hutcheon fully acknowledges just how selfish a pursuit training for an Ironman triathlon can be.
There is the five to eight hours a week pedaling his bike all over the roads of North County, plus four to six hours running around his 4S Ranch neighborhood and another two or three hours in the pool. Because that's all squeezed in around his full-time job, it means time away from his young family during mornings, evenings and weekends.
So when Hutcheon dove headfirst into the sport a few years ago, he decided he'd do it with a purpose.
When he completed his first Ironman race -- which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run -- in Lake Placid, N.Y. three years ago, he raised money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in honor of his brother, who was battling colon cancer.
Last year, he finished an Ironman in Arizona and collected donations for a Boys & Girls Club his brother had supported.
Now, he' s training for the Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Ironman, and he'll compete in the race on June 21 to raise money for the San Diego chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JRDF) in honor of 9-year-old San Marcos resident Macie Snedden.
"The beauty of the Ironman events is that they allow participating athletes to raise money for any (licensed) nonprofit of their choice, and they make it as simple as possible," Hutcheon said. "Participating in the charity (aspect) allows you to take something that's really selfish and make something really positive out of it."
