News Release

August 7, 2007

Contact: Christopher DeFrancesco, 860-679-3914
e-mail: cdefrancesco@uchc.edu

Jennifer Clair, 203-671-5236
e-mail: leasfoundation@yahoo.com

Media Alert

Homecoming for Cross-Country Cyclists

Students Invite Public to Join Them for Last 40 Miles

FARMINGTON, CONN. – Two months after leaving San Francisco by bicycle in an effort to help fight blood cancers, this year’s Coast-to-Coast for a Cure riders are back in Connecticut and getting ready for the final stretch of their 4,000-mile trek.

Who: Cheyenne Beach and Lindsay Brown are from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine Class of 2010. Mike Brown, an undergraduate at Bentley College, and Josh Weinshank, a law student at Western New England College, round out the team.

What: The students will complete their journey, and invite family, friends, faculty, and community members to ride with them. They’ve been riding to raise money for Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research, a Hartford nonprofit that provides financial support to blood cancer research efforts at the UConn Health Center. The Foundation has pledged $1.25 million for a Center for Hematologic Disorders on the Health Center campus in Farmington. The Coast-to-Coast for a Cure 2007 team so far has received $40,000 in pledges and donations.

When/Where: The last stage of the journey starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, at the UConn Health Center and ends on the shores of the Long Island Sound in Milford, some 40 miles away. The riders will leave from Shuttle Lot 2, which is the first parking area on the right when entering campus off of Route 4. Following that will be a welcome-home party at Archie Moore’s bar and restaurant (http://www.archiemoores.com) from 2 to 6 p.m.

Details about Lea’s Foundation, as well as the ride -- including the riders’ blog entries from their trip, and information on how to make a contribution -- are available at www.leasfoundation.org. Donors also can call 860-727-8998.

The University of Connecticut Health Center includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital, a Solucient Top 100 Hospital® 2006. Founded in 1961, the Health Center pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. To learn more about the UConn Health Center, visit our website at www.uchc.edu.

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