Jul 29, 2009
Cactus & Crude Ride Great Success
Cactus & Crude Ride Great Succes
According to Holly LaFebre, "We ended up with 205 registered riders which is an increase from 152 the year before. We had 20 teams registered which is also up from 12 in ’08. On day one, 158 cyclists were on the route. On day two, there were 138. The weather was in the mid 90’s which we were thankful for. It had been over 100 the week before. We also had the support of around 250 volunteers!"
There were many successful fundraisers at the ride. We would like to thank Gary Pitts for his outstanding efforts. Gary was able to raise over $28,000! We are forever grateful for his impact in the fight against MS! There were many other teams and individuals that also did a great job! We will have a final fundraising update within the next month to recognize the top fundraisers!
With the increased number of teams, we were fortunate to have a new group named the Carney Men. They have typically participated in the Houston to Austin ride, but decided to take a break and try West Texas this year. We are so glad they did! Of course, we were thankful for the $25,000 they raised between their 22 team members, but that wasn’t all they brought to our ride. They were the spirit of the weekend. They came equipped with a 22 member support crew. All were wearing camouflage t-shirts with “Carney Men” in orange print. This group cheered for and supported every person on the ride, not just the Carney Men. They had their cars decorated and had signs they put out along the route. They made the event fun. Two of their support people were our speakers at the Saturday night dinner. I have received many compliments on the message they delivered. They both did a great job, but one of them did an exceptional job of delivering the mission message. He was in college when he was diagnosed. He went on to tell the story of how his brother started the Carney Men in his honor and how the team grew over the last few years. When they ride in Houston, they actually have around 80 riders. In ’08 they raised $120,000 for that ride. The team motto is “Attack It”! At the end of the ride, the entire team waited a few blocks from the finish line. When all of their riders were accounted for, they crossed the finish line together as a team. They had hired two bag piper players to escort them across the line. It was a very inspirational moment. Like I said, they brought so much more than money to the ride. I have visited with their team captain and they will return to the Cactus & Crude in 2010 with the goal of being the largest team. We couldn’t be happier!
As I mentioned, there were 250 volunteers. Most of which were split up over all the rest stops. All of the stops did an excellent job of taking care of our cyclists on both days. One rest stop even had their own door prizes that riders could win for stopping there. The crew from Chevron brought out a shower trailer that allowed cyclists to cool off if they wanted to. Another group raced to the finish line after they shut down their rest stop because they had made home made ice cream to share with everyone. We were very proud of all the smiling faces out there ready to take care of the cyclists.
We are happy to announce that we will exceed our budget of $150,000! We expect to bring in around $165,000, maybe a little more! As of right now, we already have $137,000 in hand. There are plenty of matching gifts and outstanding pledges to be received.
Like I said, we had a successful and fun ride. I couldn’t have done it without Sharon!