The Kelly Brush Foundation, South Burlington, Vt, announced in a recent news release that its annual bike ride, the Kelly Brush Century Ride, powered by VBT Bicycle and Walking Vacations, is set to begin September 8 in Middlebury, Vt. The ride is designed to benefit adaptive athletes and supports spinal cord injury (SCI) prevention. 

According to the news release, the ride is one of the largest of its kind in the state, and also one of New England’s largest events for adaptive athletes using handcycles. The ride allows bicyclists and handcyclists to raise funds to assist adaptive athletes with SCI in experiencing the benefits of sports. The release notes that the ride has helped fund grants for adaptive equipment for skiing, cycling, bowling, rowing, and scuba diving.

Charlie Brush, Kelly Brush Foundation president, adds that the, “Kelly Brush Century Ride participants have made it possible for the Kelly Brush Foundation to purchase over 40 pieces of adaptive athletic equipment for adaptive athletes with financial limitations…the quality of life improvement for the athletes is immeasurable,” Brush emphasizes. 

The foundation also notes that the ride supports its mission to improve ski racing safety. The funds raised by riders have allowed the foundation to purchase more than 400 miles of safety netting for ski race courses nationwide and have also supported an national campaign to improve race course safety. 

The Middlebury College Ski originally facilitated the ride to help raise money to purchase an adaptive mono-ski for its team member Kelly Brush. Brush was reportedly paralyzed following a ski accident. Brush and her family later founded the non-profit organization that bears her name and the ride was opened to the public.

Online registration for the event is open through midnight Wednesday September 5, according to the foundation. Day of the event registration is also available. Click here to register.

Source: Kelly Brush Foundation