MEDIA RELEASE
This weekend’s coverage of the Ironman World Championship on NBC Channel 8 (11 a.m. Saturday, Dec 10, 2011) will honor a number of athletes who most aptly deserve to be recognized for their performances in 2011.
There will likely not be a dry eye in the house when you learn about Teri Griege, who managed to compete in Kona despite the fact that she was still undergoing chemotherapy for stage four colon cancer.
Over the last year and a half, Griege has lost 12 inches of her colon and much of her liver. To get ready for Kona it wasn’t unusual for her to do workouts with a chemotherapy infusion pump in a fanny pack.
Her inspiring story is just one of the many you’ll see during Saturday’s coverage. Over the years Peter Henning and his crew have won numerous Emmy awards for their ability to tell stories like Griege’s.
Another athlete who will be featured on Saturday’s show is Roy Riley, who entered a competition to earn himself a VIP pass at Ford Ironman Wisconsin – in it he had to explain how the Ironman motto, “Anything is Possible†reflects his life.
“Using his experiences as a Physical Education Teacher at Gerber School on the Cunningham campus, Roy reflected on the challenges his students have experienced in their young lives— abuse, neglect, and separation from their families— which they struggle with every day,†according to the Cunningham Children’s Home website. “They have taught me that anything is possible if you work hard.â€
Another who will be featured is the ageless France Cokan.
Cokan got off a boat from Slovenia in 1959 with $11 in his pocket. Over the next few years he re-trained to get his internal medicine degree that would be recognized in the United States.
He started doing triathlons when he was 52 – the race in Kona was his 44th and 21st time at the Ironman World Championship. In the end he was five minutes behind and got to the line less than a minute ahead of Lyle Roberts.
Don’t miss Saturday’s show where you’ll have the chance to meet some of these incredible athletes.