What would motivate a 60-year-old semi-retiree to embark on a nine-month long swim-bike-run training regimen leading to a day-long Ironman Competition? A desire to give back!
In the fall of 2024 Sandy approached the Perley Health Foundation and offered to help raise funds to support Veterans Programs and Initiatives by soliciting donations through his participation in the 2025 Ottawa Ironman Competition. Sandy proposed to kick off the fundraising with a personal $10,000 donation and challenge supporters to match this amount to a $20,000 target.
Sandy was not unaware of the challenge he had taken on. In the 1998-2002 timeframe he had completed five Ironman Competitions…the last at age thirty-eight… near the top of the age range for competitive Ironman athletes. Here he was going back into the trenches at 60 years of age.
Undaunted, and with the support of his spouse Maj (Ret’d) Caroline Chouinard (RMC 1994), Sandy started training in November 2024. Daily workouts of 2-3 hours that alternated between the swim, bike and run disciplines became the norm. Cumulatively his workouts, by race day, represented over 600 hours of training.
On August 3rd Sandys efforts paid off with a superb performance in the Ottawa Ironman. He placed in the top third of his age bracket by completing the race in a very respectable 13 hours 41 minutes. His success in the race was also reflected in the fundraising effort. The initial $20,000 target was quickly surpassed, as were new targets at $30,000 and $40,000. As of this writing the total is over $42,000 with donations still coming in. Two incredible achievements.
It is noteworthy that throughout his months of training Sandy also led the Ottawa Branch Golf Committee in the preparation for and execution of the Annual Golf Tournament held on 4 July 2025. The tournament was an outstanding success and raised over $28,000 in support of our Military Colleges and the Cadets.
Sandy’s generosity, athletic prowess and leadership over the past year resulted in over $80,000 being raised for two outstanding causes. A true inspiration.
BZ Sandy.
