Tour de Rock riding event honors cancer survivors
Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2008
Breast cancer survivor Nancy Holsted stood by the side of Lynch Road in North Little Rock with her camera and waved to cyclists passing by along the Tour de Rock course Saturday.
Along with family members and other volunteers, she was supervising a rest station stocked with bananas, apples, pickles — they’re good for leg cramps — Gatorade and water.
Her husband, David Holsted, was out on the course.
The two served as co-chairmen of the cycling event, which raises money for Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute. The nonprofit center treated Nancy Holsted during her battle with cancer and offered support to her husband.
“I can say our love has probably grown stronger because we’ve been through this together,” said Nancy Holsted, first diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago.
“We felt that that was a great fit for us because I’m an avid cyclist, and... she’s had a pretty good fight with cancer, and right now she is cancer-free,” David Holsted said Friday.
Under the couple’s leadership, the fifth-annual Tour de Rock raised twice as much money as last year’s event.
Organizers projected Saturday that the ride brought in $ 90, 000 for the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute. Last year’s fundraiser netted about $ 44, 000 for the institute, which has seven centers in Arkansas.
“Every penny that is raised for this goes strictly to CARTI and stays in Arkansas,” Nancy Holsted said.
The fundraiser offered two rides, the 18-mile Arkansas Children’s Hospital Family Fun Ride and the Sync Advanced Ride, which had 30-, 50- and 62-mile routes. Sync is a free weekly published by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Both the family and the advanced rides started and finished at the Burns Park Soccer Complex in North Little Rock. The family ride followed an outand-back course over the Big Dam Bridge and along the North Little Rock Riverwalk Trail.
The 62-mile ride is new this year, and Tour de Rock organizers plan next year to offer a 100-mile course, which cyclists refer to as a century ride.
David Holsted said a century ride will be an added draw for cyclists across the state, predicting that participation could reach 1, 500 to 1, 700 next year.
Thunderstorms delayed the start of the advanced race by half an hour. About 900 people registered for the family and the advanced rides this year, and about 750 made it out to the course despite the rain, said CARTI Foundation Special Events Coordinator Jamie Brainard. A barbecue and live music at the soccer complex followed the rides.
Tyson Thomas of North Little Rock rode in the Family Fun Ride with her aunt Osa Scruggs, also of North Little Rock, and her niece Megan Jolly, 6, of Tennessee. Thomas said she rode in Tour de Rock last year to honor a co-worker, Steve Thompson, who died of pancreatic cancer a couple of months after the race.
“I’m so happy to raise money for so many people who needed help, but I’m sad he’s not here this year,” she said. “I wish it could have been a success story.”
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