Swimming a third of a mile – in an undulating ocean, no less – sounds like a dangerous and tiring undertaking. The idea of then embarking on a 15-mile bike ride and, after all that, going on a 3-mile run sounds equally intimidating. But this Sunday morning, as the Tri for a Cure triathlon begins its eighth annual spectacle near Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse in South Portland, 1,400 women will be rising early to battle the elements to complete what for many of us sounds like an intensely painful endeavor.

But they do it with passion and purpose, since the women-only event raises money for cancer research and many are participating with a cancer victim or survivor in mind.

While the athletes competing should be respected for their willingness to take on the months of training required to tackle such distances and the grit necessary to fight through pain and fatigue in the process, the organizers should be praised, as well, for their dedication to making the event such a magnet. The Tri for a Cure has come into its own with a full slate of sponsors and $6.5 million raised so far for cancer research and support. The event is a well-oiled machine now, and is known as one of the best women-only triathlons in the country. That it takes place in our neck of the woods is a feather in all of our caps, and one Mainers should promote and take pride in.

So where did the Tri for a Cure come from? We know a lot of area women participate and benefit, but who started it? Julie Marchese came up with the idea for the Tri after attending a women-only triathlon in Massachusetts about 10 years ago. She also helped launch sheJAMs, a women’s triathlon-training club that boasts about 200 members. Perhaps you’ve seen groups of women swimming or running or biking in a neighborhood near you. More than likely, they are from sheJAMs, which is designed to provide advice and encouragement to female triathletes as they work to get faster and stronger.

Marchese’s mother, Pat Jordan, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, provided the inspiration for Marchese to get involved with the Maine Cancer Foundation. Soon after, Marchese was diagnosed with breast cancer and after treatment started competing in triathlons in 2005 at the suggestion of a friend. She posed the idea of a triathlon to raise money for the foundation and was told she’d have to raise $35,000 in sponsorship for it to work. She raised $275,000. That was eight years ago. Now, those donation dollars have topped $6.5 million, with last year’s total approaching $1.4 million. She’s hoping to break the $1.5 million barrier this year. Things are ramping up, and there’s no end in sight, and that’s because Marchese stays motivated. She said to writer Diane Atwood in Current Publishing’s recent Maine Women publication, that her mother Pat Jordan “had huge willpower. I’m just like my mother. She gave me that. She was my inspiration for everything I’ve done. Every single thing.”

Marchese doesn’t compete in the Tri for a Cure, since she’s a little preoccupied as race director, but she’s still competing. At 50, she did a half-Ironman, which is a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike and a 13.1-mile run. This woman, clearly, has drive, and her ambitions have not only propelled her personally, but also have helped raise millions to search for a cure to cancer and provide support and care for those afflicted with it. She’s changed people’s lives for the better, and that’s even more impressive than crossing a finish line.

–John Balentine, managing editor