Published August 5, 2011 10:37AM
Finance executives say triathlon is like “golf for this generation.”
For years, Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. trader Charles Macintosh tortured his body in triathlons, searching for victory and personal fulfillment.
On Sunday, the mortgage-backed securities trader will do it for sport and to raise money for the Robin Hood Foundation’s Endurance Team at the Nautica New York City Triathlon. His goal is to raise $10,000, which includes $2,500 of his own money and the rest coming from friends and supporters.
“The triathlon fulfills a combination of my interests,” Macintosh, 33, a veteran of more than 100 triathlons around the world, said in a phone interview. “It allows me to do what I love athletically, and the other is to make a charitable contribution. So it was an easy decision to do this.”
Robin Hood and other charities are turning to young Wall Street executives who do banking or trading by day and train for triathlons at sunrise or sunset to help them raise money. Last fall, the New York-based poverty-fighting nonprofit launched a team and has signed up 20 triathletes who will raise at least $240,000 for it this year.
“We’re trying to fight poverty in New York City, and we rely on private individuals,” Leslie Rioux, a senior development officer at Robin Hood, said by phone. “This broadens our base of people who ordinarily don’t give to Robin Hood.”
Read more: Bloomberg