Some of the biggest names in the sport of triathlon and the rock world have teamed up and recorded a charity record to raise awareness of the Blazeman Foundation for ALS in honor of its founder...Jon Blais.
Among those adding their vocal talents are three time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington, former ITU World Champion Leanda Cave, 70.3 stars Andy Potts, Matty Reed, Two time Hawaii winner Scott Tinley, four time Ironman winner Bryan Rhodes, “voice of Ironman” Mike Reilly and short course specialist Jasmine Oienck.
Mark has changed the lyrics to Iron Blazeman and called on some of his musician friends to lend a hand as well. Rock n Roll hall of famer Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols is on it , Def Leppards Rick Allen is on drums and Mark Inglert of Dramarama joins Mark on Bass and vocals.
A cover of Ironman Sam by Ampage lead singer Mark Mason is one of life survivors, an artist that went from drug addiction and homelessness to working in movies and with some of the biggest names in rock.
A runner since the age of 12 , he had a mile PR of 5:37 at 14 but gave it all up at 16 to become lead singer, songwriter and bassist of Ampage. 30 years of partying later and clean from drink and drugs, a lottery spot for escape from Alcatraz (and a lot of training) saw Mark embark on a Triathlon career which culminated in him racing in Kona in 2009 and the subsequent release of Ironman Sam.
The Blazeman Foundation is named after its founder Jon Blais (aka Blazeman). Born and raised in southern New England, Jonathan S. Blais had always been an elite athlete and multi-sport competitor. Given a death sentence in the form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (a progressive degenerative disease that attacks the motor neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain and spinal cord) in May of 2005, at the age of 33, Jon accepted his diagnosis and decided to do incredible things with it.
He began waging a War on ALS from the beginning. This was his way of dealing with it; this is how he lived out his days... fighting for research and raising awareness.
Competing in triathlons for 20 years, Jon always wanted to compete in an Ironman - especially in Hawaii. On October 15, 2005, only 5 months after being diagnosed, Jon became the only individual with ALS to complete an Ironman, finishing in 16:28:56.
He crossed the finish line by log-rolling over it, and since then, the "log roll" has been graciously performed by countless athletes, most notably Chrissie, as a symbol of hope, and more importantly, as a means of raising awareness for ALS.
Jon passed away on May 27, 2007.
Less than one month after Jon’s passing, the World Triathlon Corporation announced a new initiative where all domestic Ironman, Ironman 70.3, and IronGirl events will reserve race number 179, Jon’s Kona number, for a special athlete. This was a first in the world of triathlons. Since then, many warriors have requested number 179 at various sporting events throughout the country.
The mission of Blazeman Foundation for ALS is to: 1) raise awareness about ALS by leveraging the energy and compassion of the multi-sport community and 2) raise funds to find a cure for ALS.
You can see from these photos that everyone one involved had a great time making this record all for such a worthwhile cause. We know that Chrissie and co. are Rockstars in the triathlon world. Now we will have to wait and see when the record is released later this year if they make it as Rockstars in the real world!
You can find out more about Mark Mason HERE.
And The Blazeman Foundation for ALS here http://www.waronals.com.
The song will be available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster etc for $2.99 sometime before Christmas and all the money goes directly to the Blazeman Foundation. The song is based on same some as this video but with the words changed to hone John Blais.
This story great story was researched and written by Danny Ward (our British Bureau chief) of (TriSport Epping).
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