Riding for Kenyon

GAMBIER, Ohio (August 6, 2012)

They'll be pedaling, volunteering, cheering-and, yes, raising money in the fight against cancer. For several dozen Kenyon people, Pelotonia is more than a campus event. It's a personal commitment.

Two groups of riders will represent Kenyon. Sixteen bicyclists will ride in the Kenyon Peloton, among them professors, staff members, and students. A group of eight alumni from the 1980s, meanwhile, formed the Chasing Philander Peloton. By early August, the two groups, combined, had raised more than $29,000, reaching out to friends and family for contributions, in addition to donating themselves.

Another twenty-five faculty and staff members, along with some of their spouses, are working as volunteers for the event. Pelotonia depends on more than 1,800 volunteers, who do everything from serving food to managing parking lots at venue sites.

Many of the riders and volunteers are motivated by personal experiences connected to cancer, and have told their stories on the Pelotonia Web site. Mariam El-Shamaa, the College's director of equal opportunity, who is in the Kenyon Peloton, wrote: "I am riding because the devastation cancer wreaks on patients, and on their families, grieves and frightens me, and this is one thing I can do about it." She added that she's also riding "because treating and beating cancer has become a lifelong mission for my sister, a future oncologist."

John Platt '88 of Versailles, Kentucky, riding in the Chasing Philander Peloton, noted that he had lost two grandparents to cancer, while other family members as well as friends and colleagues have been treated for the disease. In addition, he said, the ride "ends on the beautiful hill where I attended college and graduated twenty-five years ago, the same hill where I met and fell in love with my wife, Flora . . . I ask you, how could I NOT do this ride?"

Take a look at the Kenyon roster of riders and volunteers.

Kenyon College Peloton

Robin Ball

Patty Bower

Robert Brown

Kris Caldwell

Carolyn Campbell

Mariam El-Shamaa

Michelle Foster

Bethanne Fowler

Mary Frazee

Chris Gillen

Mary Goble

Robin Goodstein

Sarah Kahrl

Thomas Karako

Terry Karpinski

Carmen King

Mark Kohlman

Marla Kohlman

Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky

Jane Martindell

Christian Martínez-Canchola

Kelly Menzel

Dorothy Michalski

Mike Michalski

Everett Neal

Nicole Pagano-Percy

Hannah Saiz

Erin Salva

Amy Schlessman

Lee Schott

Lisa Schott

Larae Schraeder

Jill Shriver

Matthew Smith

Alice Straus

Shawn Svoboda-Barber

Nikki Taylor

Jonathan Tazewell

Maureen Tobin

Barbara Widener

Greg Widener

Chasing Philander Peloton

Christopher Eaton

Martha Johnson

Elizabeth Leik

John Platt

Jeff Reynolds

Katie Sandine

Chris Shea

Lucinda Thomas