LYNNFIELD — Calling all bikers, runners, walkers and rowers: The annual Reid’s Ride bike-a-thon is back for a 17th year.
The theme for this year’s ride, which will be held on Sunday, July 18, is “Rise up and Ride, Run, Row or Walk.”
For a second straight year, the event will be virtual due to the fact that the City of Gloucester has canceled all events at Stage Fort Park, the traditional end of the race.
Reid’s Ride is the primary fundraiser for The Reid R. Sacco Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Alliance. The event was founded by Sacco’s parents, Lorraine and Gene Sacco, in 2005 in honor of their son, who waged a two-year battle with soft tissue sarcoma before dying at the age of 20 in April 2005.
“Adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer have long been an underserved population of cancer patients, yet they compose what we would argue is the most productive and most promising segment of our society,” said Lorraine Sacco.
The Saccos say that “AYAs are perched at a pivotal point in life.”
“The path that lies ahead is the one on which they will launch their careers and professions, establish their financial independence, start their own families and expand their professional and social networks and advocations,” Gene Sacco said. “For an adolescent or young adult stricken with cancer, that path is derailed or, at best, temporarily put on hold. Our mission is to make sure that all AYAs diagnosed with cancers will survive and thrive and can quickly resume life as it was meant to be.”
Participants are invited to create their own “Reid’s Ride” and complete it on the morning of July 18, when participants will bike, run, row or walk a distance of their choice as individuals or small teams in their neighborhoods, on trails or other venues.
Participants are encouraged to share short videos and photos of their ride and send it to Lorraine Sacco at [email protected] for inclusion in a single video that will be posted on the Reid’s Ride Facebook page.
A fun, new twist this year is the “Let’s pop a wheelie for AYA” initiative. The promotion kicked off Saturday at MarketStreet where pinwheel-type decorations were placed around the rotary at the entrance to the mall. Plans are also in the works to install another display at Cerra’s Market on Route 1 in Saugus. The promotion runs all week through Friday, July 16.
For the past 16 years, the goal of the alliance has been to close the gaps in medical care and treatment of adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer. Sacco said last year’s event raised $70,000 with the goal for 2021 being to raise $100,000. Reid’s Ride has raised more than $3 million, helping to establish the Reid R. Sacco Adolescent and Youth Cancer Programs/Clinics at Tufts Medical Center and the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
Lorraine Sacco said the alliance has led the way in the development of specialized AYA cancer programs and clinics. These programs have, in turn, developed and implemented innovative approaches and paradigms for survivorship planning; collaborative, AYA-specific and rare-cancers clinical research; meeting the economic and psychosocial challenges faced by AYA cancer patients and survivors; and the formal training of physicians in AYA cancer.
“Reid continues to be the energy of each and every day. His love and spirit fill our hearts and endures with every breath we take,” said Lorraine. “The precious bond that we shared when we were together, we continue to share that same bond each day even though we are apart. Reid’s Ride is for all those precious bonds that this horrific disease tries to destroy. Ride or support a rider and together we will alter the course for AYA cancers so they are routinely curable.”
All participants will receive a 2021 17th Annual Reid’s Ride T-shirt. Other incentives include a stainless steel, insulated Reid’s Ride beverage container for individuals or teams raising more than $400; $50 restaurant gift cards for those who raise more than $750; and an official Reid’s Ride cycling jersey, Reid’s Ride AYA Cancer Alliance lapel pin and a Mariposa tray for those raising a minimum of $2,000.
To register or make a donation, go to www.ReidsRide.org.
You don’t have to be a rider to contribute to the cause. Non-participants can make a difference by sending along photos with hashtags #ReidsRide,#ReidsRide2021, #DreamTeam2021 and #AYACancerAlliance to help keep Reid’s legacy alive.
