BelronŽ Holds Triathlon for South African Organization

More than 560 Belron employees from 13 different countries competed in a triathlon in London on August 4 to raise money for MaAfrika Tikkun, an organization that assists disadvantaged and impoverished communities in South Africa.

Six of the 560 were from Belron US, as follows:

• Geoffrey Cowles, computer operator shift supervisor in Mount Vernon, Ohio;
  
• Brian Ehrlich, production scheduler in Columbus, Ohio;
  
• Brent Fiegel, warehouse lead in Davenport, Iowa;
  
• Paul Groves, director materials management in Columbus;
  
• Jeremy Ward, contact center coach in Columbus; and
  
• Matt Weger, IT director in Columbus.

Fiegel, who has been running for about three years and has participated in several marathons, says he was excited to have the opportunity to run in the triathlon.

The Belron US team poses with Belron CEO Gary Lubner, Belron US senior vice president of strategy and business development Rich Harrison and Belron SA chairman Ronnie Lubner. From left to right: Ward, Groves, Gary Lubner, Ehrlich, Harrison, Weger, Fiegel, Cowles and Ronnie Lubner.

"They wanted to send a couple of teams from [the United States], and I was interested," he said.

He said he only learned of the event about three weeks before it occurred-but trains so often anyway that it was no problem for him to prepare.

"Well, I am kind of in constant training mode," Fiegel said. "I do marathons primarily. I'm training now for a fall marathon. I'm virtually always training. I was already in fairly decent shape."

Fiegel runs about 70 miles a week, sometimes twice a day-both before and after work. He was in London for about five days for the event, and the team placed around 32nd about of 52 teams.

"It was a great experience. I can't wait until next year," he said.

Ehrlich, who bicycled 40 kilometers (approximately 25 miles) in the competition, said this was his first competition of this sort.

"We got kind of late notice, but we made it," he said.

Ehrlich already was an avid athlete, but hadn't focused on cycling before.

"I stay in pretty decent shape," he said. "I did the bike leg, and as far as biking, I just started doing that right as I found out I was to go."

As for next year, he hopes to return-but expects the competition to be a bit steeper within the company.

"Next year, we're going to be a little more competitive," he said. "I'll try out for it next year."

Either way, though, he expects next year's team to have a strong showing.

"Next year we'll win," Ehrlich said.