Babson athletes trek cross-country for MS
It began as a wintertime conversation about a cross-country bicycle trip among four student-athletes at Babson College in Wellesley. It ended July 15 at a tavern near Fenway Park.
That's where recent Babson graduates Ryan Murphy of Canton, Tom Sullivan of Pembroke, and Kevin Welch of Sandwich, and junior Michael Maher of Cumberland, Maine, threw a party to wrap up their 3,500-mile, 40-day adventure. The students raised $8,100 for the Waltham-based Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis -- with more pledge money still to arrive.
``I have a close family friend who was diagnosed with MS, and it made sense to me and to all of us to team up with the Accelerated Cure Project," said Maher, who owned a road bike and had entered triathlons in the past. Debbie Mellor, the wife of project founder Art Mellor, had spoken about the foundation at an entrepreneurship class at Babson attended by Murphy and Sullivan.
``We started slowly," said Maher, who is on the men's lacrosse team at Babson. ``We established a website with ACP and started our pledge drive, and we flew out to Seattle on June 5."
Murphy was a member of the school's lacrosse and hockey teams; Sullivan and Welch played hockey.
The young men reassembled their bicycles from the plane ride and began their two-wheel trip home on June 6, with their route taking them through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario and New York before finally crossing the Massachusetts state line.
``Our goal was to bike 85 miles a day, and one day we even did 170 so we could catch a ferry at Lake Michigan," Maher said. ``We had lodging most nights," he said, with their rooms sometimes donated by local businesses, ``but we camped out four or five times, and we talked to just about everybody. People were just great to us."
They endured headwinds of 30 to 40 miles per hour crossing the dry prairie of eastern Montana, a thunder and hail storm in North Dakota, and, early in their trip, three of the cyclists were thrown to the pavement by particularly bumpy railroad tracks. ``We laughed about that one," Maher said.
``It was surreal when we got back to Boston. It still hasn't hit me yet."
Their trip is detailed on the foundation's website, acceleratedcure.org, under its events link.
``As a small national non profit, to have these boys raise awareness of our mission makes a profound impact on what we do," said Sarah Nels, events manager for the Accelerated Cure Project, which was founded in 2001.
``We've had more sign-ups to our website because of the attention they've received."
Marvin Pave can be reached at 508-820-4223 or at mpave@globe.com. 