Chilean-American actor, Cristián de la Fuente, will participate in the 6th Annual Nautica South Beach Triathlon on Sunday to raise money and awareness for the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
After losing his father to cancer, the actor experienced the challenges of the disease firsthand, and says he is even more concerned when cancer affects children.
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“For my dad it was tough, but I can’t imagine kids who are two or three and are battling against cancer,” de la Fuente said. “Anything we can do to help those kids- that’s the least we can do.”
During the triathlon, de la Fuente, who joins the Nautica Triathlon for the third time, will be transmitting the message of cancer awareness in both English and Spanish.
“Latinos, we are special, we like our messages delivered to us in our own language,” de la Fuente said. “It’s great that I can tell the Latino audience and the people that follow us what we are doing in our own language, in Spanish.”
The actor will be joined by guest including “Days of Our Lives” Greg Ellis, E! Network correspondent Jason Kennedy and “30 Rock’s” James Marsden.
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“We’re in Miami, we are the locals,” said de la Fuente, who recently returned to Miami after a spending time in Mexico. “The ones representing the Americans are the ones who are flying from L.A.”
The triathlon includes a half-mile ocean swim, a 19-mile bike course and a 4-mile out-and-back run course.
The race is sold out and is expecting more than 3,000 participants and hundreds who will come to cheer on the competition.
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De la Fuente will be participating in the bike portion of the triathlon which rides through Miami Beach’s causeways.
“I haven’t trained that much but I’m very active in sports. I work out, go to the gym, bike, waterski and do aeronautics,” said de la Fuente, who has benefitted from the South Florida weather for his bike training. "Probably soon I’m going to do the whole thing but for that you really have to train.
The bike I do regularly, I train three times a week every week, it’s my cardio sport so it’s not that complicated."
The triathlon benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and a portion of the proceeds go directly to pediatric cancer research. More than $400,000 was raised last year to benefit the hospital.
“People can help even if they are not running,” said de la Fuente. “Anything is helpful and it goes to St. Jude’s. The idea is to help the kids.”