RUBY BEACH –– A group of 28 college-age bicyclists dipped their front tires in the Pacific Ocean shortly after noon Thursday after having ridden 27 miles south from Forks near the end of their cross-country ride to raise money for young adults with cancer.
Sixty-eight days ago, the bicyclists dunked their rear tires in the Atlantic Ocean at Baltimore, rider Nicole Considine said in a cellphone interview with the Peninsula Daily News.
The ride is called the Baltimore to Seattle 4K for Cancer, a program to raise money to support the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. They rode from Port Townsend, where they were hosted by First Presbyterian Church, along U.S. Highway 101 to Forks on Wednesday and spent the night at Forks Assembly of God Church, where they were fed dinner.
‘Good, hot meal’
“It was just what everybody needed,” Considine said. “We all just needed a good, hot meal.”
After the Jefferson County ocean stop, the group planned to ride on to Aberdeen, where they were set to spend Thursday night.
Today, they were slated to ride from Aberdeen to Bainbridge Island, where they are to spend the night before taking the ferry to Seattle on Saturday.
They will gather at about noon at a park next to Pike Place Market in Seattle. The address is 2001 Western Ave.
To participate, each rider had to raise at least $4,500 for the Ulman fund, according to Alak Renukuntla, spokeswoman for the riders who travels with them in a support and water supply van.
The fund helps young adults with cancer get care and counseling as they fight the disease, Renukuntla said.
For more information or to donate, visit their website, www.4kforcancer.org.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
