Help getting company sponsorship: your ideas?

As you may know, money is kinda tight for me and Hubby since he doesn't have a steady job and is working on starting a biz.

I want to do a sprint tri in August but the entry fee is $75! I was thinking of asking my company to sponsor me, but I need ideas on how to pitch it. I work for Russell Corp, an athletic company, but they don't make anything really that I can wear or use during the tri.

I am a member of the women's network and they have a bit of a budget, but I need to figure out what's in it for them to sponsor me. One of the committees had talked about getting a group together to do this tri, but there's not enough time for it this year. I'm thinking I can pitch the idea in 2 ways: (1) I will try it out to see if it's worth doing next year and (2) we could get an article written about it in the company newsletter and bring attention to the women's network. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks!