אל על | אטמוספירה

Photos: Gili Hanoch

Training for the event demanded more than eight months’ training including long runs and a CrossFit and powerlifting program. But team members didn’t just have the physical challenge to contend with – indeed, each one of them also pledged to raise funds amounting to at least NIS 30,000. Otherwise, they would not be able to take part in the obstacle course. Giving back to the community The “Tough Mudders for the Larger Than Life Association” team has been training and working together for eight years now. This year, the money raised amounts to NIS 2.7 million. Since the team’s foundation, not less than NIS 12 million have been raised. Half of this sum has served to build a nursery school

for children with cancer in Beer Sheba, the second such school in Israel, the first being in Kfar Azar. The money raised will contribute to the opening of similar nursery schools in Jerusalem and Haifa. The team also organizes all sorts of events during the year such as fundraiser days, kids’ summer camp and mentoring events. They also help kids and teens in remission accomplish their educational and professional goals so that they can get back to normal life. This whole project was originally thought up by Alon Cohen, CEO of the printing solutions company Printer Center, and known by his teammates as “Captain”. “No other association in Israel has a sports’ team that trains and raises funds like we do. Being part of the team means being bound

by solidarity and the profound wish to keep on running until not a single child with cancer is left without a suitable nursery school to welcome them”, says Cohen, “during the ‘Tough Mudder Infinity Challenge’ that my team took part in last July, I looked on at my teammates and was in awe at their level of drive and motivation. Each one gave it their absolute all. One even helped his teammates complete the climbing challenge with a broken hand. What we do may be tough, but we never lose sight of the fact that the true heroes are the children and teenagers fighting against a brutal disease day in day out”, he adds. ˆ To join the 2024 team or make a donation for the nursery schools: toughmudders.co.il

39

ATMOSPHERE OCTOBER 2023