Jim Stevens of Cottage Grove swam, biked and ran through Sunday’s Wisconsin Ironman triathlon as a man on a mission. He was among 53 of the 2400 Ironman athletes who participated in Ironman’s Janus Charity Challenge, using the grueling event to raise donations for non-profit organizations.
Stevens was able to raise $88,621.96 for Care Net Pregnancy Center of Dane County. To that Janus will add $8,000, since Stevens was the second leading Janus fundraiser for this event. He was the only local Janus participant among the top five fund raisers recognized at Monday’s Ironman banquet at Monona Terrace.
This was Stevens’ second Ironman. The retired Madison public school gym teacher ran two years ago as a personal challenge, and did not discover the Janus Charity Challenge until after the 2007 race. At the Care Net banquet two months later, he said, he felt God speak to him to run again to benefit Care Net. He committed himself to the goal of raising $50,000. Almost immediately doubts began to set in.
"I began to wonder if that really was God speaking to me," he said, thinking that maybe he had set his goal too high. "But then things started to happen. God was moving on people to get behind this thing."
Six weeks before the latest triathlon, at a training race in August, Stevens injured his foot. While he continued to train, he did not run at all for the six weeks before the triathlon. Even though it slowed him down a bit on Sunday, it wasn’t a major problem. "I’m walking around today and my heel doesn’t feel bad at all," he said Monday night.
He said the race two years ago was more of a personal challenge. "The pressure was off for this race" since the pre-race fundraising was the key component for him. "All I had to do was finish the race."
The first part of the triathlon was the swim. "When I came out of the water this year I felt wonderful, compared to two years ago when I felt dead," he said. His swim time was about a minute better than two years ago. His biking time was about the same. But the run took him a lot longer, so much so that he finished after dark. But that turned out to be somewhat of an advantage also. "When the sun went down it was cooler and refreshing," he said. In all he spent over 14 hours on the course.
"It couldn’t have come at a better time for us," said Liz Osborn, the executive director of Care Net. "We are so humbled by Jim’s investment. The Janus theme is ‘A will of iron and a heart of gold,’ and that’s so true."
Care Net’s annual budget is $572,000, which covers client services, outreach programs, and the Elizabeth House residential program for single pregnant women. Like most non-profits, Care Net is feeling the pinch from the current economic downturn. She says her staff hears on a regular basis from supporters who can no longer provide the financial support they had pledged. The money raised through the Janus Charity Challenge will benefit all of Care Net’s programming.
"Care Net has always been a faith ministry," Osborn added. "We didn’t know (about the coming economic downturn) two years ago. We have had a blessed year."
Stevens turns 58 on Saturday. His tentative goal is to try the Ironman again in two years. He’ll be 60 years old and in another age bracket.