Project Athena Grand Canyon hike
One of the most successful adventure racers of all time, Robyn Benincasa, finds that there are some experiences better than winning.
Jacqueline Windh / 28.09.2009
Robyn has been racing since the sport of AR was invented - and she is one of the few athletes from way-back-then who still competes today (sometimes even racing with her former team-mates' sons!). But when she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis back in 2007, and booked in for major hip-resurfacing surgery, she had some low moments, wondering what this would mean for her athletic career.
But, she tells me, the confidence that the many challenges of AR has given her, as well as the strong support network of fellow racers that she can count on, gave her the positive attitude that she needed, to be sure that she would make it through. And then she wondered how other women, who don't have that kind of background and support network, manage to stay positive when faced with serious medical challenges.
And that is where Robyn's brainchild of Project Athena came from. Project Athena is a registered charitable foundation dedicated to helping women who are facing serious medical setbacks to achieve their athletic dreams. Robyn roped in a few of her racing mates (all accomplished racers from the AR, triathon and ultramarathon worlds): Danelle Ballengee, Melissa Cleary, Florence Debout, and Louise Cooper to join her as founding members. Robyn's main racing sponsors, <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.merrell.com')" class="main">Merrell</a>, <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.zanfel.com')" class="main">Zanfel</a>, <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.wigwam.com')" class="main">Wigwam</a>, and <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.akaliwater.com')" class="main">Akali Water</a>, offered their immediate support to the project, so there are two sources of funding. The corporate sponsors support the runing costs of the foundation, as well as any costs for the founding members to travel to and compete in events. Then there are the private donors - Robyn emphasises that, because of the corporate support for her and her team-mates, every cent that is fund-raised goes directly to supporting one of their grant recipients.
So, about those grant recipients... I learned from two-time breast-cancer survivor Sara Jones, who I ran with in Costa Rica, that achieving those athletic goals means far more than just competing in some race. Sara showed me how much a serious medical condition completely derails your whole life - she was forced to leave her job as well as to sell the two businesses she owned. And I saw in competition how it was not just the disease, but the many side-effects of treatment that have lasting effects on what she is and will be able to do. Sara likened all of this to losing your identity - no longer having the job and activity that you used to have to definite yourself.
Robyn notes that many women who have battled a serious medical condition (as all of the Project Athena members have) become labelled as “survivorsâ€Â? - but that simply surviving, being alive, is just not enough. The PA literature says it all “Doctors and scientists can cure the body; Project Athena cures the spirit.â€Â?
So, tomorrow I depart for Phoenix, AZ, and I will meet up with the Project Athena team the next day. About 20 Project Athena members - both founding members as well as fund-raising gods and goddesses - will be taking part in a rim-to-rim-to-rim hike (yup, that's going from the South Rim down to the bottom and then up to the North Rim the first day, and then back down and up the second day). Sandy Kilburg, a breast cancer survivor and super-positive attitude is this trip's “athenashipâ€Â? grant recipient. I've spoken to Sandy on the phone several times, and I already see that she epitomizes the positive spirit that Project Athena represents - I look so forward to meeting her!
I'll be uploading reports and photos from our journey this week as often as our internet connection permits. Until then, please take a look at the Project Athena website <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.projectathena.org')" class="main">www.projectathena.org</a>- there is a pile of information there: about the founding members, about the 4 grant recipients that PA has supported so far, and also about this trip. And... if you want to join in for the next trip, and become a part of the Project Athena circle while raising funds to support the next athenaship recipient, then consider coming along on Project Athena's next Grand Canyon trip - dates are June 2 to 6, 2010.
SleepMonsters
