UConn Health

August 24, 2011 | Christopher DeFrancesco '95 (CLAS) - UConn Health

Back from Cross-country Trek, 40 Miles to the Atlantic

Three UConn medical students invite all to join them Sept. 17 (new date) for the completion of their coast-to-coast ride to fight leukemia.

From left: Tom Williams, Greg Hebert and James Alex on the Pacific shore in San Francisco at the start of their journey June 19. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)

From left: Tom Williams, Greg Hebert and James Alex on the Pacific shore in San Francisco at the start of their journey June 19. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)

From left: Tom Williams, Greg Hebert and James Alex on the Pacific shore in San Francisco at the start of their journey June 19. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)
From left: Tom Williams, Greg Hebert and James Alex on the Pacific shore in San Francisco at the start of their journey June 19. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)

For the three medical students who spent the summer pedaling cross-country on bicycles to raise money for leukemia research, only 40 miles separates them from their final destination: the Atlantic Ocean.

More than two months and 4,000 miles ago, James Alex, Greg Hebert and Tom Williams dipped their tires in the Pacific off San Francisco to officially start the 2011 Coast to Coast for a Cure ride. Their journey will end when they’ll suit up in their jerseys, strap on their helmets, and lead a convoy of supporters from the UConn Health Center to the shoreline. Tropical Storm Irene postponed the final leg of the ride, originally scheduled for Aug. 27. They’ll try again Saturday, Sept. 17, with a noon planned departure.

This is the sixth year of the ride, which raises money for Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research, a Hartford nonprofit and philanthropic partner of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Family and friends welcome the 2011 Coast to Coast for a Cure team back to the UConn Health Center. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)
Family and friends welcome the 2011 Coast to Coast for a Cure team back to the UConn Health Center. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)

It has become tradition for the riders to be joined by friends and family for the last leg of the trip to the East Coast, this year by way of Hammonassett Beach State Park in Madison. A celebratory gathering for drinks and appetizers will follow at Malone’s Restaurant, 56 Academy Street, Madison. All are welcome to pedal along. They’re meeting at the academic entrance and plan to leave at noon.

Plenty of photos and details from their trip, including how one rider continued on to Cape Cod, can be found on the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog, along with this closing thought:

“On Aug 4th we arrived back in Farmington, stronger, more experienced and with the tan lines to prove it,” Williams wrote. “We saw some staggeringly beautiful places and likewise some staggeringly boring places. We are filled with stories and memories from a trip that we will most likely never repeat. Along the way we met so many incredible people and found help and generosity in every place we stopped. For all this, we are grateful. And we are happy to be home.”

From left: Williams, Alex, and Hebert at the academic entrance following their return to the Health Center Aug. 4. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)
From left: Williams, Alex, and Hebert at the academic entrance following their return to the Health Center Aug. 4. (Photos provided by the Coast to Coast for a Cure 2011 blog)

Alex, Hebert and Williams, now second-year students, have raised more than $18,000 so far. Even after the last wheels touch the Atlantic, pledges to support this year’s ride can be made through http://leasfoundation.org.