WE Rides Together: Cycle for Survival

It is not often that I see coworkers on a Saturday afternoon, but this past Saturday afternoon was different.

Overlooking Market St. in San Francisco, the main workout room at Equinox Sports Club was littered with pom-poms, orange beads, sweatbands and hundreds of pumped up cyclists ready to kick cancer’s butt during this year’s Cycle for Survival event – an annual fundraiser for rare cancer research conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) – which includes a four-hour cycling class.

Our team, WE Ride Together (consisting of Amanda Gonzalez, Holly Lancaster, Stephanie Miceli and myself, Mallory Richards,) joined forces on our agency-sponsored team to raise more than $4,300, thanks in large part to generous donations from our family, friends, colleagues and the agency’s Athletic Sponsorship Program, a program available to employees that provides a donation to a charitable athletic event when they participate in the race.  

Rare cancers – which account for about 50 percent of cancer diagnoses each year – include brain, pancreatic, ovarian, stomach, and all types of pediatric cancers. And while no cancer is a good type of cancer, rare ones are notoriously underfunded and, therefore, harder to treat.

As Dr. Stephen Roberts from MSKCC mentioned on Saturday during our spin-a-thon, in cancer, money follows the numbers, but when you combine all of the patients battling these rare diseases, they add up. Dr. Roberts specializes in pediatric neuroblastoma – a rare cancer that comes with a 50 percent survival rate for children. His current research is largely funded through grants – including those sourced from Cycle for Survival funds.

This year, 31,000 riders joined Cycle for Survival events around the country and helped to raise more than $19 million, which will be allocated for research within six months.

We were proud to represent the agency at this year’s event in San Francisco and highly encourage folks to ride next year. If you are interested in participating in Cycle for Survival or donating to Memorial Sloan Kettering, please visit Cycle for Survival to learn more.

Connect with the author, Mallory Richards, on Twitter.