RACE ACROSSAMERICA
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 06/27/2008
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It was dark traveling down the winding roads in the Colorado Rockies at night, and one Purdue student was exhausted behind the wheel.
But he knew the importance of keeping pace with the two bikers ahead of him. The bikers would need the light from his car to reveal their path. In fact, they would need his light every night for the next six days.
Connor Warden, a senior in the College of Technology, traveled alongside the TherAplay cyclist team in the Race Across America tour that began on June 11. The race pins 40 bicycle teams Ð two person, four person or eight person Ð in a race across the country. After Warden finished Maymester at Purdue, he drove to Oceanside, Calif., where the race was set to begin and subsequently end about a week later in Annapolis, Md.
Warden never pedaled a bike during the race; instead he was either behind the wheel or in the passenger seat of the pace car.
"That was probably my favorite part, being in that vehicle and getting to do all the stuff that entails," Warden said.
Day and night, the 10 crew members in the pace cars communicated with the riders through CB radios, cheered them on in the earlier hours of the morning and shed light on the road in front of them at night.
"Going down some of the hills, they were flying," Warden said. "At night they had to be in your lights around 50 feet."
Warden wasn't shedding light for cyclist in his own age group, either. In fact, the four-person riding team was classified in the 50-year-old age category for the race, which meant the four riders' ages had to average out to at least 50. The race took Warden and the racers through 14 states and 3,000 miles of countryside. It took seven days and five hours from the starting line for the racers to arrive in Annapolis, good enough for 3rd place in their age category.
Warden said biking is a hobby and a passion, but after seeing how much time and energy the riders put in for a week straight, he found a new admiration for the sport.
At one point in the trip, one of TherAplay's riders suffered from dehydration, which was severe enough that a nearby friend from Illinois flew in an IV for the rider. The pain and anguish the riders went through wasn't just for personal accolades, either; most of the profits the riders earned are going to charity.
Raquel Ravinet, executive director for the Children's TherAplay Foundation, said the team brought in an estimated $10,000 for the foundation.
TherAplay, equine-assisted therapy, provides children with physical needs, rehabilitation. The clinic incorporates the movement of horses into physical and occupational therapy sessions.
This is the first year a racing team has contributed to TherAplay, and the foundation is more than grateful.
"We were so excited when they approached us," Ravinet said. "What a wonderful gift for us. I'm still just amazed at the accomplishment."
The money given will help fund the scholarship fund, which helps families that can't afford the therapy. As a member of the non-profit organization, Ravinet said she wants to make sure kids can receive the therapy, no matter what their financial situation may be.
Warden didn't initially know the race was contributing to charity, but after he found out, it was just another benefit to the experience.