Champion for Charity Mitch Blaine embraces adrenaline surge of helping local kids hospitals
By Jeff Hicks
KITCHENER —
A spectral mist floated into the invigorating alpine air above Alta Lake.
Almost seven years ago, the glacier water was frigidly foreboding and enchanting all at once.
Mitch Blaine, elbows up and surrounded by hundreds of Iron Man competitors, waded into a tangle of flailing arms and twisting torsos in limb-numbing pond at the base of Whistler Mountain.
Knuckles were chucked. Feet were grabbed. Splashes were panicked.
The raucous race was on.
Blaine, known as “Mittens for the green camouflage weightlifting gloves he often wears, felt like he was back playing no-holds-barred rugby as a kid in Kitchener again.
“It was a full-contact sport,” recalled Blaine, who sells commercial real estate as executive vice-president for world-wide JLL, of the plunge into his first competitive open-water swim.
“That, by far, was the most adrenaline-filled moment I’ve had lately. But I won’t lie, getting punched in the face this last week — that woke me up for sure.”
Yes, the adrenaline is surging again.
Training and sparring as one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity preparing to step in the boxing ring for the first time on April 24 at sold-out Tapestry Hall will do that for you.
Blaine, a 46-year-old father of three, is ready to punch and be punched for MacKids.
“I love fitness and trying new things and scary things,” Blaine said.
“And Champs was nice way to give back to the healthcare space and the hospitals in southwest Ontario. So this was a real two-birds-with-one-stone opportunity.”
Blaine and these Champions for Charity have already helped raise more than a half-million dollars — and will also help Waterloo Region Health Network Foundation purchase an additional echocardiogram machine for its paediatric clinic through a 50/50 draw and silent auction. This year’s fundraising goal has been bumped up to $750,000.
Blaine and wife Melissa leaned on the services of the Region’s health network to help their three kids over the years. But the challenges they overcame, Blaine says, are trivial compared to what many families are enduring.
Giving back is important. 
“It’s the least we can do,” Blaine said.
On Fight Night, he’ll think of Nixon, his 13-year-old spitting-mage son with the ball-hawking hands of a tackle footballer.
And 10-year-old Ayla, his daughter with remarkable independence to go along with her acrobatic gymnastics tumbles.
And energetic Elle, 9, the family firecracker and hardcourt menace.
But the charity boxing ring — in a safety-first, Ontario Boxing Association-sanctioned bout — is hardly a 20-by-20 sanctuary from the madding crowd of open-water Iron Man mayhem.
Not on Fight Night. New territory will be entered.
It will be 400 square feet of controlled fear-and-fury bathed in the spectral spotlight of a great cause.
“Especially being on the main stage, one-on-one in front of 700 of your closest friends. And who knows how many people are watching on livestream,” Blaine said.
“So, yeah, this is up there.”
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