Benoît Gamard story
My name is Benoit Gamard and I am a person who loves challenges

After a few years of working in Beijing, the routine of business dinners and late nights in bars with beers and cigarettes started to wear me out and I was looking to make a change to my lifestyle. This was also the time I got married and we started thinking about a family. After running my first marathon last year I gradually became more and more interested in doing triathlons (swim, bike, run) and have done quite a few short distance races so far. I felt I needed more, so I put myself the goal to compete in my first IRONMAN distance triathlon in September this year.

What is an IRONMAN ? many of us wonder. When I tell people, that I have to swim 3.8km then bike for 180km before finishing the race with an entire marathon (42.195km) , they usually just look at me, shake their heads in disbelieve and think I am crazy. They wanna know how I even get prepared well enough for such an event in the blasting heat of Beijing summers, the brutal cold of Beijing winters and, we all complain about it, the horrible air pollution, all the while having a full time job, a family and needing to travel a lot for business.

What it takes is very simple: Determination, perseverence and never stopping to believe in your dream. What it took for me was to set up my own home gym fully equipped with air filters, a stationary bike I rode through many long international conference calls; a treadmill for hot, freezing or bad air days, a group of biking friends and a supporting wife, who would accompany me on many swims, rides or runs, act as my nutritionist and mental coach.

Scope
With this race, I want to make a change. I want to encourage people to follow their dreams and to never let anybody stop you from pursuing them. I support SCOPE in their efforts for Children with disabilities. We all know of someone who is affected by disease, now is your chance to help out!

Disabled people are twice as likely to live below the poverty line as non-disabled people and that's before the extra costs of disability are taken into account. Being disabled or caring for a disabled person may have an impact on your financial situation by:

Reducing your income
Increasing your living expenses
Requiring you to purchase expensive items
Increasing your travel costs

Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects muscle control and movement. It is usually caused by an injury to the brain before, during or after birth.Children with cerebral palsy have difficulties in controlling muscles and movements as they grow and develop.

> Support Benoît Gamard
> More information about Scope
> More information about IronMan race