Jim Williams, of New York, raced for Team 4HIVHope in both 2011 and 2012.

Jim was diagnosed with HIV on April 21, 2006, a few months after signing up for AIDS Lifecycle, a 550-mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS prevention and services. Jim has since participated in numerous endurance and multi-day bicycling events. He currently races as a Cat 4 with NYVelocity, a racing team out of New York City. Jim is a member of Positive Pedalers, (www.pospeds.org) a group of openly HIV+ cyclists working to eliminate the stigma attached to the disease. Jim served on the organization's Board of Directors.

Stigma and discrimination are still serious problems, even in the United States. It is one of the reasons Jim wanted to do RAAM as part of a "positive" team. For Jim, there is power in publicly acknowledging that he is positive and that power has helped him find the strength and courage needed to fight and live with HIV.

"Although HIV is part of my life, I am not defined by and refuse to be limited by those three letters – I am much more than that," Jim says. " By competing in RAAM, I hope to show others living with HIV that it is not a barrier to sports such as cycling, and in fact, cycling is a great way to get and stay healthy."

Glenn Druery is a Political Consultant from Sydney, Australia. He is 50 years old and has 4 children. He was wrongly diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in his early 30s and didn't ride a bike for eight years. After he became well he started cycling again and was soon riding 200 km a day and decided to tackle some of the world's biggest races, including the 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris and 3 RAAMs (2005 - 6th in 4 person team, 2007 - 2nd 2 person team and 2009 - winner 4 person Teams).

"I was very excited to be part of another RAAM and associated with an interesting team with such a worthy goal. For me, RAAM is 10 times higher than Everest; it's beyond epic, it's a journey into the darkest depths of your soul, and yet, it's inspirational and heroic, I love the madness of it all."

Don raced with the Team 4HIVHope in 2011.  He lives in Penticton Canada and is an avid competitor in Ironman races.  A few weeks before RAAM 2011, Don raced Austin TX Ironman – a nice warmup!

Don, 54, was first diagnosed with HIV in 1986 and told by his doctor to put his affairs in order since he would be likely to die within two years.  His reaction to that diagnosis was to focus on health and nutrition and keeping fit, and 25 years on he has almost a decade’s worth of competing in triathlon behind him.

Although he admits that he looks up to some athletes, Smith insists: "My personal heroes are all of the other persons living with HIV. They are my brothers and sisters who bravely live their lives in spite of the stigma that living with HIV can bring. This race was really for all of them."

Patrick Autissier 49, raced with Team 4HIVHope in 2012.  Patrick lives in Boston with his wife and 2 kids. He has been an ultra-endurance athlete for more than 10 years, competing in three solo RAAMs (official finisher in 2007) and once as part of a four-man team that finished second in 2006. He has done many Ironman Triathlons and Marathons.  He was also featured in the multi‑award winning movie "Bicycle Dreams" by Stephen Auerbach.  Check out its trailer.

Patrick has been conducting scientific experiments during RAAM in hopes of discovering effects of endurance athletics on both HIV+ and negative individuals and comparing the two.