The 27th Annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented by Equinox will return to Zuma Beach this weekend. Athletes, celebrities and philanthropists will don their wetsuits, pump up the bicycle tires and lace up their sneakers for a test of human endurance stretched to the limits.
As last year, participants will swim, bike and run to raise funds for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Pediatric Cancer Research Program, where they raised $1.17 million for research into children’s cancer and blood diseases with the help of celebrity weekend athletes like Rainn Wilson and Alison Sweeney.
“The Nautica Malibu Triathlon is a great opportunity for the community to support a remarkable cause,” Karen Murray, president of Nautica, said. “Children’s Hospital Los Angeles does amazing work and we are honored to support them and help raise awareness.”
The Malibu community will field its own teams of super athletes. Local resident Bobbi Cantanese will be cheering her sponsored Team Scents of Purpose. The team’s jerseys will tout the nontoxic candle company she founded to fund her habit of feeding the homeless. Malibu runners Victoria James, Lori Dome and Sasha Lee will be competing.
“It all started when I got lost on the 110 Freeway and ended up downtown,” Cantanese said. “I was on Skid Row and was appalled to see children living in boxes. I mean, this is just a few miles away from Malibu!
“My daughter and I discussed it and we started bringing sandwiches to the people who live down there,” Cantanese continued. “We started out serving about 50 people and then it became a hundred, and it kept going.”
As the pressure to serve ever more homeless increased, Cantanese started to think of a way she could fund her charitable instincts without rendering her own family penniless. She launched Scents of Purpose, the Candle With a Cause Company (http://scentsofpurpose.org/), in order to create candles that were not manufactured out of toxic petroleum products. As soon as the company turns a profit, she will be donating all to her philanthropy.
Cantanese considered participating in the Triathlon herself, but health reasons kept her from training, so she sponsored a team. Sasha Lee (representing the swimming section), Lori Dome (biking section) and Victoria James (running) comprise Team Scents of Purpose. As James described it, the trio are novice competitors.
“I used to run long distance, but had hung up my running shoes,” James, who works for a publishing firm in her day job, said. “When Bobbi told me about her team idea, I jumped. I’ve been training to run in the classic race, which is just four miles. Then I found out that we were somehow put into the international distance race. So just look for the last one coming in and that’ll be me.”
The triathlon is divided into two races, with the Classic Distance Race consisting of a half-mile swim, 18-mile bike ride and four-mile run. The Herbalife International Distance Race is for the true Iron Man: about a mile swim, nearly 24 miles on the bike, followed by a 6.21-mile run.
The first Nautica Malibu Triathlon was inaugurated in 1987 by Michael Epstein of Michael Epstein Sports Productions, Inc, who is an avid triathlete himself. The inaugural event, pulled together by friends and family of Epstein, hosted 300 athletes, a fraction of the 5,500 who compete today. The top five athletes in each age division are awarded medals and kudos at the awards ceremony.
“The City of Malibu is the reason we are able to host an iconic event that supports Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and raises over $1 million annually for its Pediatric Cancer Research Program,” said Michael Epstein Sports Productions spokesperson Libby Mooney. “We are honored to have a strong partnership with this city and residents over the past 27 years. And we look forward to many more years to come!”
Local athletes seem to be doing it for the love, more than the glory. James said her goal is simply to finish the race.
“Hey, if I can run from the Oxnard airport to Zuma Beach, I should be able to do a triathlon, shouldn’t I?” James asked. Then she laughed hysterically.
For more on The Nautica Malibu Triathlon, visit the website: www. nauticamalibutri.com
