SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of cyclists embarked on a 140-mile journey Saturday to raise money for cancer research.
The 450 cyclists were part of the 4th annual Huntsman 140, and they included cancer survivors, family, friends and fundraisers.
Event organizers said the Huntsman 140 began 11 years ago with a man named Jeff Warren. Jen Murano Tucker, development officer for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation, described the event’s origins.
“Jeff warren actually is a stage-four cancer survivor,” she said. “For his first year of survivorship, to celebrate it, he rode from his hometown in Reno to Salt Lake City to the doors of Huntsman Cancer Institute, and he rode along and then all of a sudden after a couple years he had a whole team join us, and four years ago we decided to turn this into an event.”
Bob Dintleman is a cancer survivor who participated in the ride.
“ I had a tumor on my leg,” he said. “I was concerned about it, they did a biopsy and came back as a sarcoma, so the surgeon removed it and said the margins were good. I then went and saw an oncologist for a year or two and haven’t had anything since… We’re all participating in this bike ride to raise money for cancer research, and some of the guys and gals signed up to do the 140 miles, I just signed up to the 75 mile.”
As of late afternoon Saturday, event organizers said they were able to raise more than $200,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. All of the money raised is used locally.
