Compete for Causes fitness fundraiser raises $104,883 for charities

Locally founded organization Compete for Causes matches fitness with philanthropy, challenging people to get healthy and keep moving all while lifting up worthy nonprofit organizations.

Founded last year by a group of local men, Compete for Causes has led four competitions and their contest this spring was their biggest yet. They had 84 participants who got active in any way they could to raise $104,883 for four charities including the Mayo Clinic, A Bridge for Kids, Sanford Burnham Prebys and ConnectMed.

The upcoming Compete for Causes challenge starting on Oct. 5 will benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

“People are doing this because they don’t mind paying to raise money for charity and exercising,” said co-founder Jeff Szekeres, a Solana Beach resident. “They get a benefit out of it at the same time.”

The idea for Compete for Causes all started with a trip up Mt. Whitney. After Szekeres and his friends Adam Rhodes, Andre Niemeyer and Mike Coward won a permit to climb Mt. Whitney last spring, they began training together and pushing each other through virtual challenges based on miles, calories and vertical feet.

All of them got into great shape to summit the mountain and they were so fired up they wanted a create a way to channel that positive energy into something bigger. Since organizing their first challenge in December, Compete for Causes has contributed more than $120,000 to local charities from over 170 participants: “We are on to something special,” Szekeres said.

For the May contest, each participant had an $80 buy-in and Compete for Causes was able to boost their charitable donation by securing pledges from donors. Participants use an Apple iPhone with the fitness app to track their daily individual goals based on age, weight or gender—they aim to close their red “Move” ring that measures active calories.

“We were fortunate to convince high net worth donors that this was worthwhile,” Szekeres said. “If you closed your ring every day, you earned $100 from somebody else’s pledge donation.”

Had people not worked out as hard they would have earned less and the Compete for Causes crew worked hard to keep people motivated every day.

“It was a really fun competition,” Szekeres said.  The contest included lots of friends of friends, teachers from school, locals as well as people who live out of state.

The top person in the competition, Brian James, was exercising three to four hours a day and earned about $3,000 from the donor pledge. Participant Sara Lake of Carmel Valley said she was walking nine miles a day to keep up. There would be times when Szekeres’ wife Amy was doing laps around the couch at home just to close her rings.

“The really cool thing was everyone I talked to said that they exercised more,” said Rhodes, a Carmel Valley resident. “They did more than they usually did, which was really neat.”

Rhodes had a lot of family in the contest, including his wife and both of his parents. “Everyone really went for it.”

Sweat Circuit in Del Mar even offered participants a free HIIT class. Throughout the 21-day competition, 80% of participants achieved their targets. They burned 1,118,032 Move calories or 739 calories per person per day.

During the break between official competitions, the men behind Compete for Causes haven’t stopped moving —the group of friends is heading back up Mt. Whitney this October and are challenging each other to get as much vertical elevation gain as possible.

“Not only do I have to run but I have to go run on hills because if I just run flat areas, I get zero credit on the leaderboard,” said the competitive Szekeres, who had plans that day to run one of his favorite local spots to get vertical: the San Dieguito County Park trails.

Whoever can get more vertical by the end of the month wins the challenge. Szekeres said if he wins, he will make Rhodes take the dessert of his choosing up to the top of Mt. Whitney—he is thinking he would like to enjoy a pint of Chunky Monkey atop the 14,450 ft. peak. Rhodes lost the last challenge to Szekeres and had to haul Jeff’s snacks—he said he does not expect to lose this year.

A little friendly competition is always good, supporting and pushing each other to improve, get stronger and live a healthier life. And with Compete for Causes, the added benefit of putting in the work is being able to give back.

“This has been an unbelievably fun ride with so much support from the community and to see all these people exercising more and raising money, it’s just been really, really fun,” Rhodes said.

Compete for Causes will be doing signups for the October challenge throughout the month of September with the goal to get 100 to 150 people to participate.

For more information and to join the  mailing list visit competeforcauses.com