Stories of PH

The Year Ahead – Team PHenomenal Hope 2015

February 10,2015

In 2014, Team PHenomenal Hope partnered with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association to accomplish a major milestone: completing the Race Across America. In 2015, the team will continue to race to find a cure for pulmonary hypertension. We are expanding to include more types of endurance racing and more athletes from all over the map!

The team is proud that our support continues, too. UPMC and Bayer Healthcare will return as presenting sponsors of our 2015 team, for which we are so grateful. Actelion Pharmaceuticals and Mojo Running and Multisport joined us in early February. And, we also have early returning-sponsor commitments from Fiks: Reflective and Eat’n Park.

We also are thrilled to welcome three new sponsors: Fort Pitt Web Shop, Bon’s Eye Marketing and StartUptown. These companies have played a creative and critical role in helping us communicate our PH Awareness message to the community-at-large. In fact, with their help, we were able to redesign both our website and newsletter. They deserve a big “thank-you!”

New look, new goals in 2015

“Team PH” will expand from a crew of four cyclists to a larger endurance/ultra-endurance team. The team currently consists of 14 athletes from Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio, along with ultra-cyclists, marathon and ultra-runners, ultra-swimmers and Ironman triathletes. Team PH veteran Ryanne Palermo will captain the group.

Joining Palermo are returning athletes Patty George, Anne-Marie Alderson and Sara Harper. New recruits include: Tim Bachman, Amanda Budzowski, Eileen Bauer, Mike Bauer, Mike Finikiotis, Peter Kochupura, Pascale Lercangee, Cindy McVerry, Monica Reisz and Dustin Wehler.

As athletes, we share our passion for endurance sports as well as a desire to inspire people to make a difference in the lives of those coping with PH. Rather than target one huge event, our goal in 2015 will be to broaden our reach and fly Team PH colors in races throughout the year, all over the map.

All over the globe

Our race calendar is filling in fast, and you’ll find team members racing in big events every month. Team PH members will race not only in ultra-cycling events, but go the distance in marathons, trail races, distance swimming and Ironman triathlon events.

The year got off to a quick start with Palermo racing her first ultra-running race, successfully completing the Frozen Saskwatch 50 km (30 mile) trail race on January 3 in Charleston, West Virginia.

Coming soon: Watch Pascale Lercangee test his speed and stamina in the Bike Sebring 24-hour race in Sebring, Florida. In March, Amanda Budzowski will race Ironman 70.3 in the Philippines; and in April, Ryanne will tackle her first 50-mile running race in Washington DC.

Bringing it home to the Pittsburgh Marathon

Team PHenomenal Hope expects to have a big presence in the Pittsburgh Marathon, which happens the weekend before World Pulmonary Hypertension Day in May. In fact, we will be recruiting even more people to race with us in this annual Pittsburgh tradition. We want you to lace up with us as well, so stay tuned for details!

Partnership with the Pulmonary Hypertension Association

The 2014 RAAM effort was part of the Race of Our Lives campaign, a movement within the PH community where patients joined with Team PHenomenal Hope in increasing awareness about PH. The campaign also raised funds to support research toward a cure.

All involved agreed the excitement and momentum of this movement was captivating, as well as a big boost to our charity’s goal. Because of this success, Team PH will continue to highlight pulmonary hypertension in endurance events designed to rally people inside and outside the PH community to our cause.

As a team, we remain committed in our mission to not only inform the community about pulmonary hypertension, but to raise funds for research. To this end, we will continue to make an annual donation to PHA to get us all to the finish line – a cure.

There is no doubt about it. As we expand our depth and broaden our reach in raising awareness, 2015 promises to be a big year for our team. We look forward to working with our dedicated sponsors and PHA to achieve our goals, here at home and around the world.

If you are interested in sponsoring or supporting Team PHenomenal Hope, receiving our monthly newsletter, or simply learning more, please email us at info@www.teamph.forte-press.com or reach out on our Contact page.