An important fundraiser event for cancer research is celebrating a big milestone this weekend. The Courage Ride, an annual bike ride event that raises money for sarcoma cancer research at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is Saturday, August 10th. Registration for the event begins at 6:30a.m. at Big Grove Brewery and Taproom in Iowa City. Routes range in length from 18 miles to 105 miles. Stops along the route include Hills, the Courage Stop, Hillcrest Academy, North English and Millersburg. There is also food, refreshments and live music at each of the stops on the ride. Along with the bike event, a silent auction is held throughout the day at Big Grove with live music and food for purchase. This week, event directors Leora Houghton and Jackie Bailey joined KCII news to talk about the inspiration for the event, it’s evolution, and importance.

Houghton said, “It came from the death of our son Seth. He was 25 when he passed away from synovial sarcoma. He actually had his first bout with sarcoma when he was a senior in high school and ended up having his leg amputated, and then it came back. We wanted to do something that would help research and people that are going through this. I got the name Courage Ride, because anyone who is going through cancer, it takes lots of courage. It’s also evolved from no sarcoma doctors or researchers done at the University of Iowa to now more than 20 research trials.”

Bailey continued, “The money from Courage Ride, doctors and researchers can use to fund small research projects. We started in Hills Park, then we moved to Iowa Mennonite School, then we moved to Big Grove in Iowa City, but we still kept the ride into the Amish countryside. We kept the core of it the same. This is also a very close-knit group of people, between those who volunteer, those who come to ride, those who come to have lunch, along with the doctors and the researchers.”

 This event raises between $75,000 and $100,000 annually and has contributed more than $865,000 toward sarcoma cancer research since the first ride in 2005. For more information or to register to participate visit courageride.org.