Over $10K Raised for MS Research by SAS Team

“It is always worth trying new challenging things, especially if you do not think you can do them. You might just surprise yourself!” says Adrian Almy '19. This year, Adrian formed a biking club at the Upper School to train for the BP MS 150 Ride—a 150-mile, two-day bike ride from Houston to Austin in April that raises money for multiple sclerosis research. According to the National MS Society, “with 13,000 cyclists participating each year, it's the largest event of its kind in North America.”
The St. Andrew’s team comprised students Adrian Almy '19, Tristram Coffin '19, Jake Huggins '20, Cord Mazzetti '19, Sam McCarthy-Potter '19, and parents Michael Potter, Paul Huggins, and Dean Almy. Adrian shares his inspiration for participating and his overall experience with us below:

“I developed an interest in cycling during Middle School and had done some serious riding around New England with Overland. My uncle Jack suggested that I might enjoy the BP MS 150 Ride...I liked the idea of combining my interests in riding, science, and community service.

I thought it would be a good idea to form a team at St. Andrew's through the club system. To prepare for this ride we started meeting in the fall. In January, I worked out a training schedule. This usually meant biking for over three hours twice a week. Forcing ourselves to go out and ride 40 miles at 8:00 am on Saturday and Sunday morning, sometimes in cold, rainy, or windy weather, was tough.

A big team milestone was the 62-mile LBJ 100 Ride at LBJ Ranch. It was also a challenge to get all the team members to register, set up their webpage, and learn how to ask for donations, but as soon as we accomplished that, we were raising money! Since we are under 18, we also had to recruit some adult riders. Luckily, we were able to get three of our dads to join the team.

During the BP MS 150 ride, I found it was best to try not to think about anything. The miles went by faster if you didn't, although a lot of the time I had song lyrics stuck in my head. We rode from Houston to Austin as a team the whole way amongst 13,000 other riders from all over the world. Sometimes our group would get stretched out a bit, but at every checkpoint we stopped and waited for the whole team to gather and to check everyone’s condition.

The weather was brutal. The first day it was 90 degrees with 80% humidity and 17 mph winds with gusts up to 30 mph. We did 83 miles that day. The second day was not as hot, but we had serious head winds of about 16 mph. We did 66 miles that day.

The feeling when we finished is hard to describe. I was numb but very satisfied and happy for all of us. I was starving! The whole team was just amazing. I am so thankful to everyone, especially my dad who got a late start in training, but was a great rider. We worked so long to raise money and to train for the ride, and when we were done I just felt thankful.

Our original team goal was to raise $5,000 for the National MS Society. I am very happy to say we have raised over $10,000! I am very grateful for all the support of our team. We are continuing to fundraise to support MS medical research. My hope is that we get even more team members for the BP MS 150 ride next year!”

The team is continuing to fundraise through July 31, 2017 - if you’re interested in supporting them click here
 
Congratulations to the St. Andrew’s team! Go Cru!
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