She’s posed nude, sold pine-scented soap and hosted fishing derby’s in rural Manitoba; It’s fair to say Canadian National Biathlon Team member Megan Imrie has done it all trying to fund her Olympic dream.
But now she’s been given a chance to use a social media crowd-sourcing website to pay for her team fees in advance of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia by partnering with the website pursu.it.com.
“It’s an excellent method of getting money,” Imrie said. “It works through social media and it makes it as easy as possible to get people to donate.”
The website allows athletes to upload pitch videos asking the public to donate to their cause. In turn, they offer ‘give backs’ as thank you gifts to their donors. They range from autographed postcards to, in Imrie’s case, a two-night Olympic getaway for four at her family’s ranch.
“In your video, you try to convince people this is a worthy cause; be clear about who you are, where you’re from and what your goal is,” Imrie said.
She’s asking for $10,000: $6,500 to cover her national team fees and $3,500 to pay for her first IBU tour, which will allow her to re-qualify for the World Cup. It’s the steepest financial burden she’s faced in her career, but thus far, the website has helped her raise $1,800 in two days.
“I’ve never had to raise this much before. This is a new high, or low, depending how you look at it,” Imrie said.
Her hometown of Falcon Lake has been her biggest supporter, however Imrie doesn’t want the small town of 1,000 people to shoulder the burden.
“People back home are so proud of what I’m doing. They’re hard working people and they don’t have that much to give.”
Imrie’s financial struggles are indicative of Biathlon Canada’s situation. The national organization has found itself deep in debt approaching the Olympic year. The athletes have been told if sponsors aren’t found, Biathlon Canada may cease to exist in five years time.
“It is not only our athletes that are enduring financial difficulties. Biathlon Canada is actively seeking sponsors as well. These numbers are approximate based on our budget (rounded), overall expenses are approx $1.56 million, approximate revenues of $1.45 million, with a projected deficit of $115,000. Of these expenses our high performance program has approximately $1.02 million of the $1.56 million in expenses,” said Biathlon Canada executive director Kalie McKenna.
With no title sponsor heading into the Olympic year, the athletes are brainstorming for ways to save their sport in Canada. It’s not the first time, as the women’s team put together a nude calendar in 2010. There will be no calendar this year, Imrie said, as the team has to come up with a creative way to raise funds.
Imrie said given the current financial condition, athletes are distracted by the need to raise money for the organization on top of training.
“If you asked people to do their job and be the best in the world for $1,500 a month — that’s everything — people would find it hard,” Imrie said. “When you’re stressed about finances, it’s not something you can put out of your mind. Once we settle on something and make a plan, we can sort itself out more.”
She’s optimistic a corporate sponsor can be found, as the team has much to offer. Teammate J.P. LeGuellec won World Cup gold last season, and high performance director Chris Lindsay is optimistic the team has more medal potential in Sochi.
“With biathletes from each province, we have so much potential for contacts. It seems impossible to me we can’t find a sponsor. There must be someone willing to spend money on us. What teams do you know you could spend three or four days with your company with the training group? We’re in a beautiful sport and we have a cool sport,” Imrie said.
On top of fundraising, Imrie is coming off the toughest year of her career. Illness and injury forced her to miss most of the World Cup season. Now 27, she’s been a biathlete for most of her life, but this was her toughest year to date.
“I had a really tough training season last year. I was sick a lot with different colds, and injuries — it was one of those years. Training didn’t work for me. By the time I got to fall, I was totally exhausted. I was doing the workouts, but way below where I should be. That sparked physiological and hormonal problems,” Imrie said.
Doctors suspected she had developed a thyroid disorder and she tore tendons in her ankle to make matters worse. Imrie decided to go home to Manitoba for six weeks, questioning if she would ever race again.
“I came home in December and I wanted to flush my rifle down the toilet. I set it aside for a while to see what actual rest would do. I hung with my family as far away from biathlon fans as possible,” Imrie said.
The rest worked, and Imrie returned to the World Cup for races in Sochi and Oslo.
“I raced in Oslo and Sochi with the sole purpose of seeing the Sochi course, and to see if this is what I wanted to do. After the fall, it was bad, bad, bad, over and over. After I went to Sochi, I was more excited to do biathlon more than ever,” Imrie said.
To view her video, visit pursu.it.com.
