498 cyclists, including Team Darien, ride together for cancer survivors

Written by The Darien Times
Thursday, 20 August 2009 11:53

The sun was hot, but the hearts of 498 cyclists, including Team Darien, created the real warmth at the fifth annual Connecticut Challenge on July 25, in Fairfield.

The record number of riders came from 64 Connecticut towns and 12 other states to ride together in support of cancer survivors.

The day started on a high note with the ceremonial Lap of Honor around the church green by 30 cancer survivors, including several currently undergoing treatment for their cancers.

From that point, cyclists ranging from 6 to 77 years old rode close to 25,000 miles, including 93 who took on the challenge of 100 miles. The cyclists hope to raise $750,000, an average of $1,500 per rider.

Team Darien included Marnee McCollum, Brian Geraghty, Tom, Geraghty, Beth Chappel, Dan McCollum, Mark Evanchick, Joe Evanchick. Bobby Whittaker, Lucas Whittaker, Martin Whittaker, Winston Holt, David Jacobsen, Matthew Parsons, John Wheelock, Kimberlee Kiner, Samantha Mazzone, Jim Rottkamp, Kasey Mazzone, H P Boyle, Jeff Faul and Bill Seislove.

Ragland and Jeff Keith of Fairfield, a cancer survivor and long-time cancer fundraiser, founded the Connecticut Challenge in 2005. Their goal was to create a cancer survivorship clinic in Connecticut to help the state’s 120,000 survivors deal with the challenges many of them face following the treatment phase of their disease.

Since its inception, the organization has raised over $2 million and now supports survivorship programs at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Stamford Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Yale Cancer Center.

“We are focusing our efforts for the next year on expanding this network to include all of the hospitals in the state,” said Ragland. “They all treat cancer patients. We want to help them develop programs to continue supporting these people beyond the end of their treatments, a mostly underserved area in cancer care.”

To learn more, visit ctchallenge.org.