05.09.08 - The San Francisco AIDS Foundation predicts the Big One: the Seismic Challenge

San Francisco, May 9, 2008 – The San Francisco AIDS Foundation announced today the creation of a two-day 200-mile cycling fundraiser, the Seismic Challenge, which will follow the San Andreas Fault from Fort Bragg to San Francisco on October 18 and 19.

 “We listened to people all over the Bay Area committed to helping the Foundation prevent new HIV infections,” said Mark Cloutier, Chief Executive Officer for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “They wanted new ways to challenge themselves, to remain a part of the Foundation’s vibrant community, and above all, to do something to eradicate HIV.”

 The Seismic Challenge will expand an array of athletic fundraisers supporting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation: AIDS/LifeCycle (June 1 – 7), the AIDS Walk (July 20), and the AIDS Marathon (August 3). Many long-time Foundation supporters have completed their favorite event several times, cannot take a week off from work for AIDS/LifeCycle, or didn’t sign up before registrations closed this year. The Seismic Challenge is the first of several new endurance events to fill this niche in the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s fundraising program.

 Contributions from these popular events provide more than half of the Foundation’s resources, enabling the Foundation to promote innovative HIV/AIDS prevention programs such as Black Brothers Esteem, the Speed Project and needle exchange, all of which have become models for HIV prevention throughout the country and the world.

 Cyclists will travel together to Fort Bragg on Friday afternoon, October 17, and stay in hotels both evenings of the Seismic Challenge. The demanding route will take them first along the rugged California coast, then inland through the Russian River Valley, finishing Sunday afternoon across the Golden Gate Bridge. Participants must raise $2,200 in pledges in order to begin the ride.

 Just like AIDS/Lifecycle, the Seismic Challenge will be produced by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “Since it’s one-hundred percent ours, we can preserve our extraordinary level of participant support, and especially the sense of community and shared-purpose that have always been our hallmark,” said Robert Pinnix, Director of Endurance Events for the Foundation. “And we can keep production costs low, ensuring that the maximum amount of proceeds supports the Foundation’s leadership. We expect the Seismic Challenge, like the San Andreas Fault itself, to forever change the landscape of HIV.”

 “The San Francisco AIDS Foundation focuses on the broader goal of overall health and wellness,” said Cloutier. “While training for the Seismic Challenge, participants will promote their own health. And the funds they raise help us improve the health of our clients and their communities, especially those most at risk of acquiring HIV. This ride is a perfect public expression of what the Foundation is all about.”

 Pinnix noted that the Seismic Challenge will put only 450 riders on the road for the weekend journey, far fewer than the thousands involved in most other major cycling events. “This will be a truly unique experience right in our own backyard. People from all over the world come to see our coast, our redwoods. Next October, a small group of us can see them again ourselves, this time from a new vantage point, the seat of a bike.”  

 Training for the Seismic Challenge will begin in June. Those interested in more information or in signing up should go to www.seismicchallenge.org, or call (415) 487-3053.