Local Woman vs. Lance Armstrong in Duel in the Pool
By: Cierra Putman
Updated: April 13, 2012
What does Twitter, a local triathlete and Lance Armstrong all have in common? They all made the "Duel in the Pool" possible.
It's a kick-board race fundraiser for teens with cancer. It will take place April 28 at 8 pm. That's when Mary Eggers will take on Armstrong at the University of Buffalo North Campus.
The goal is to raise $100,000 for local teens living with cancer.
Eggers said she sent Armstrong a Twitter challenge last month in jest.
"I never thought that he would respond," she said.
He accepted the challenge just days later. They've been tweeting back and forth about who will win.
Now every splash and kick the triathlete takes has a bigger purpose.
"When it gets hard I think of (the teens) because they have it much harder," Eggers said.
Eggers is an Ironwoman triathlete. She figured taking on a world class athlete would generate enough buzz to help the teens she works with at Melissa's Living Legacy Teen Cancer Foundation.
Eggers and Armstrong will race 50 yards. Just them, the water and a kick board.
"It's equivalent to a potato sac race," she said. "So I thought I might have a shot."
Eggers thinks she can win, but that's not the point. She said it doesn't matter how much time they spend with the kick board and in the pool. The point is to meet their $100,000 goal.
75% of the proceeds will go to Melissa's Living Legacy Teen Cancer Foundation in Rochester.
Lauren Spiker's daughter Melissa died in 2000.
She asked her mom to make a difference for other teens with cancer.
The foundation now provides teens with information and peer support. Eggers is one of their volunteers.
"Every year we get bigger and bigger," Spiker said. "Now we have Mary Eggers racing against Lance Armstrong. So I hope this is what Melissa had in mind."
"I've seen a lot of kids who've never given up their will to fight and who have lost their battle," Eggers said. "I get to walk around as a healthy person and it's so unfair to me so what can we do to help them struggle."
Eggers hopes each kick she makes is one stroke closer to helping them beat cancer.
Click here for more information to donate and learn about the duel.
