Driven by the awe-inspiring determination to help researchers find a cure for Type 1 diabetes, Curtis Sherstobitoff recently participated in his second-ever triathlon in New Zealand.
Curtis completed his first triathlon last August in the hope of raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as his oldest daughter Jordan was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes almost a year ago. “Everyday I see Jordan giving herself five insulin shots a day and think — there must be a cure in her future!” he said.
Having already booked a family vacation to New Zealand to visit friends, Curt signed up for the Kinloch leg of the Contact Tri-Series near Lake Taupo, New Zealand. Finishing 81st out of 130-plus participants, which included 10-time Ironman New Zealand champion Cameron Brown, Curt was satisfied with his result.
“I was hoping to place higher in the standings but I’m happy with the end result considering I was not able to do any dry-land training because of our winter.” he said. “All the training I did was indoor.”
Curt’s final time was three hours and twenty seven minutes — not bad for swimming 1.5 kilometres, biking 40 kilometres and then finally doing a 10-kilometre run.
“One thing that we noticed while travelling around New Zealand is the fitness level of their citizens — everyone is in great shape and they eat very healthy,” he said. “So it wasn’t surprising the calibre of the participants in the triathlon!”
So far friends, family and the community have donated $5,000 towards Sherstobitoff’s cause. However, when you find out that in Canada 300,000 children have Type 1 diabetes with the greatest rise in children between five and nine years of age — that money doesn’t go far. So every penny counts toward the cause.
In New Zealand, more than 270,000 people suffer from diabetes while another 15,000 have Type 1 diabetes.
If you would like to make a donation, please visit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Donor Drive website at jdrfca.donordrive.com and enter “Curtis Sherstobitoff” into participant search field (near the bottom-left of the page.)
Or you contact Curtis directly at 250-365-0801
Curt’s next race is the 2011 Half Iron Man in Oliver in June.
/ Submitted by Sue Heaton and Curt Sherstobitoff