What: Tony Rich’s Indoor Ironman & Silent Auction

When: 7 AM Sunday, July 31 (Silent Auction 7/25/11 – 7/31/11)

Why: to raise money for the YMCA’s Reach Out Campaign

Where: 615 Washington St. Brighton, MA 02135

This Sunday is a great opportunity to show your support for Tony Rich and the Oak Square YMCA!

Read the press release below and donate now!

Every little bit counts. Read here to see how you can help improve lives within our community.

Rich to complete Indoor Ironman and raise $10,000

Hosted by the Oak Square YMCA to benefit its annual financial assistance fund

In 2004, lifelong Boston resident Tony Rich walked into the Oak Square YMCA for the first time to become a member and begin training for an Ironman Triathlon. Comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile marathon, to complete this task of physical and mental feat, Rich would have to gain more than significant biking and running endurance. He would have to learn to swim. Since that time, and having enrolled in swim classes at the Oak Square YMCA, Rich has not completed one Ironman, but two: 2007 in Florida and 2010 in Lake Placid, NY.

On July 31, 2011 at 7:00am Rich, a now 7 year member of Oak Square YMCA, will attempt an indoor Ironman to raise $10,000 for Reach Out, the Y’s financial assistance fund. Each year, the Oak Square YMCA provides nearly $300,000 in financial aid to strengthen its community and help its neighbors of all ages and abilities live healthier, more active live. “Thanks to the generosity of the Y,” Kamala D., another longtime member says, “We’ve truly been enabled to make fitness and fun an integral part of our family’s daily life. It has become a second home, and we’ve been exposed to a multitude of enriching experiences we would otherwise never been able to afford.” Such an impact in the community simply would not be possible without the support of dedicated Y members and volunteers like Rich: “Helping the people in need in my own community is a cause very important to me,” he states.

For the indoor Ironman at the Oak Square YMCA, the 2.4 mile swim will be held in the lap pool; for the 112 bike ride Rich will hook up his bike to a computrainer. Courtesy of Fast : Splits in Newton, the device simulates an outdoor riding experience, and at the same time, allows you to analyze your pedaling stroke, power and other metrics; and the final 26.2 miles will be a treadmill marathon. Tony states that some conditions will be more favorable indoors such as being in a controlled climate and not having to compete for water space with thousands of others as in an outdoor Ironman. The computrainer also allows the bike course to be customizable to the Queen K in Hawaii, for example, but there is certainly a factor of monotony in swimming 170 lengths of a pool and being “stationary” for six hours on the bike and treadmill. To curb this, Rich will be using a waterproof casing for his MP3 player and a few spin bikes and treadmills will be set up for those who want to bike and run beside him for encouragement. Tony will also rely on his experience of completing more than 20 marathons to overcome the mental challenge of running a marathon distance on a treadmill.

In addition to scheduling a time to bike or run with Tony, The Oak Square YMCA and Tony Rich encourage the community to support Tony by visiting irontony.com and donating to the 2011 Reach Out Campaign. With the help of Xterra, H2O Audio, Sun Multisports, Max Performance, Air Tran, and others, the YMCA will host a silent auction leading up to and ending on the day of the Indoor Ironman, July 31, 2011. For more information on how to get involved, please contact Sara Nelson at snelson@ymcaboston.org or 617.787.8678.

And don’t forget to check out Tony’s blog, here!

Inspiring.

That’s all. Goodnight!