According to the study "exercise in solid organ transplantation" from the University of Copenhagen; High intensity physical activity in transplant patients prevents the body from rejecting the new organ, improves its functioning and increases life expectancy.

That was our starting point, because in this campaign the messenger is as important as the message.

We took a group of transplant patients and train them with the help of Edwin Vargas (the best triathlete in Colombia) and the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, so they would be fit to run and finish an IronMan 70.3.

Every step of the training program would be documented to afterwards create a training program for every transplant patient in Colombia.

First we needed to found the right people for the JOB.

Once we had them, we started to train them with the help of Coach Edwin Vargas (the best triathlete in Colombia and one of the best in the world), every step of the training was being documented and posted on our social media channels along with the life stories of each and every one of the transplant athletes.

these videos were put together with tips and comments from Edwin Vargas so other transplant patients could train themselves.

Before the competition we knocked on the door from ACTO (Colombian Association of organ transplants) to convinced them to adopt these training program as part of their recovery program.

Finally the big day came, our athletes gave their all and managed to finish the IronMan 70.3 in Cartagena, while the media from all over the world was watching

These group of "transplant triathletes" became leaders of a movement that inspires other transplant patients to engage in physical activity. They have been invited to many shows and talks all over the country.

The media from Colombia and the world followed the story and took the message everywhere.

health organizations like the ACTO and the government now officially promote high intensity training in patients with their condition.

The Gatorade Training Program for Transplant Patients is now helping more than 450 new patients and it gets more and more popular between doctors in Colombia.

In Colombia, transplant patients have higher death risk after the operation because 95% of them don't do any physical activity. There is a general belief, from doctors and patients, that physical activity puts their bodies in danger; when according to studies from the university of Copenhagen is actually the opposite.

Gatorade decided to use the IronMan 70.3 in Cartagena, to demonstrate how high intensity exercises help transplant patients, by training a group of them to run and finish the competition.

They are now the leaders of a movement that inspire other transplant patients to engage in physical activity.

IronMan is not about winning, it is about confronting your fears, it is about self-transformation, you compete against your own body. This competition is full of amazing stories of people who went beyond the limits.

And when you mix these kind of stories with a powerful message, the people stand on the edge of the couch until the end.

To see these group of transplant athletes go all the way, give their best, and simply break their limits was inspiring. At the end there would be one simple thought in everybody's mind: If they can do it, so can I.

That's what we wanted everybody to think, especially transplant patients and doctors. Because we were giving them a living proof that what they knew to be right it actually was wrong.

Gatorade has been the official sponsor of the Ironman 70.3 Cartagena since its creation, and 2017 wasn't the exception.

The challenge every year has been to motivate more people to engage in a competition so hard that many professional athletes fail to finish.

But this time Gatorade wanted to do more than just that.

And after some research, we came across with the sad reality of transplant patients in Colombia: there are 7.000 transplant patients and 95% of them have higher death risk after the operation just for the fact that none of them engage in physical activity.

Gatorade has always inspire people with big superstars, but now was the time to give the spotlight to someone else. Someone who would carry a bigger message.