Spinning for Life
Tarrytowners Tara Chillemi and Kelly Brown hope to raise $8,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as they train, by spinning in front of local venues, for a Florida Triathlon in the spring.
Perhaps you've seen them set up outside of places like the Stop and Shop in Ossining this Sunday. One woman bikes on a road bike secured in a trainer for hours while the other woman collects donations.
This weekend, Tara Chillemi and Kelly Brown collected $300 toward their goal to raise $8,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and train for Anthony's Olympic Triathlon in Florida in April.
These two cheery natives and current residents of Tarrytown met at the Crest Pool and have run in the same circle of friends ever since. And now they've both gotten very involved in the LLS. Chillemi's coached several events and completed races and triathlons, placing second in last year's Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon.
Brown finished her first event with Team in Training (LLS's endurance training team) in September at the Hudson River Swim For Life and has worked as a corporate sponsor through her company, Morgan Stanley, to raise over $20,000 at the Light the Night event at Rye, Playland.
“This time around, Tara and I are joining forces,” Brown said, as they train together for the Florida event. “Team in Training has raised over $900 million for blood cancer research since its inception in 1988 and Tara and I are pledging to up that number by 8k.”
Tired of asking their families and friends for donations for all their various events, the women said, they are taking a more creative approach this time around. They've created a joint site as Tarrytown's Team of Two and have been hosting "spin-a-thons" outside local establishments on the weekends.
“Last weekend we road nearly 50 miles and raised several hundreds of dollars,” Brown said.
Next stop closer to home: look for these young women spinning and selling Irish soda bread at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in a few months.
To track their cause you can visit the Tarrytown's Team of Two site here; to learn more about Team in Training click here.
kathryn mccabe
3:34 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
What an inspiration! This type of training takes enormous dedication and to put such efforts towards helping others is such a wonderful thing to do! Wishing you both the best and will be visiting your website to make a donation!