Article from The Philidelphia Inquirer 09-20-2004
On Running
Company's triathletes chip in to fight cancer
By Ira Josephs
Inquirer Suburban Staff
Jamie Maguire rises so early that the average rooster would roll over for another hour or two of sleep.
He doesn't greet dawn, he beats it by hours. When you're a husband and father of four, a chief executive officer, and an Ironman triathlete, sleeping is not an option.
So when does the Fort Washington resident greet the day?
"Three-thirty or 4 a.m. and out the door at 4:30," Maguire said. "I have to do a lot in the morning."
Maguire, 44, also will be doing a lot this weekend. He and his firm, Philadelphia Insurance Cos. of Bala Cynwyd, are playing a prominent role in Sunday's Parkway Run/Walk for Children's Cancer Research, which begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel, at 18th Street and the Parkway.
The Parkway Run/Walk is a USA Track & Field Grand Prix Circuit five-kilometer event and two-kilometer fun walk that benefits the Oncology Research Unit at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"We're thrilled to be a part of it," Maguire said. "The job Children's Hospital does is spectacular. They are a first-class operation and their research into cancer is unparalleled."
Organizers hope this year's event raises $175,000, and Philadelphia Insurance has already raised $35,000, $20,000 by the claims department alone.
Maguire and fellow executives Sean Sweeney, Chris and Tim Maguire (Maguire's brothers), Deborah Sutton, Jeff Collins and Cynthia Lasprogata are all serious triathletes.
Jamie Maguire, Tim Maguire, Sutton and Lasprogata all completed the Lake Placid Ironman triathlon for the hospital in July 2003, and Jamie Maguire finished the legendary Hawaii Ironman triathlon in October.
Most Ironman triathletes wouldn't compete in the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle race, and 26.2-mile run more than once a year. But Jamie Maguire did so twice in three months.
Maguire, a football player, wrestler and tennis player at Chestnut Hill Academy in the late 1970s, became an endurance athlete after graduating from St. Joseph's University in 1984. His father, James J. Maguire Sr., 71, founded the company and is still chairman of the board and a runner himself.
"He began the process, and I've taken it to a new level," Jamie Maguire said. "We hire people who have a competitive spirit."
One of them is Sutton, 38, of Newtown Square. She played field hockey at Harriton High in the early 1980s and started running a few years ago.
"The culture here got me really and truly involved," she said. "It's a constant push, but in a good way. We work out at lunch. We have a gym here in the building. It's a very supportive group of people."
The folks at Children's Hospital would agree.
"We love children and are doing it for kids," Sutton said.
