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The fifth annual NBC Connecticut Jim Calhoun Cancer Challenge Ride and Walk will be held at the Performing Arts Center at Simsbury Meadows on Iron Horse Boulevard in Simsbury on June 11. The event benefits the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UConn Health Center in Farmington and Coaches vs. Cancer, an American Cancer Society program.
The ride and walk is presented by CIGNA and the Hartford law firm of RisCassi and Davis, and is dedicated in part to the memory of Eileen Fucile and Doris Davis.
There will be rides of 10, 25, 50, and 75 miles and a 5K walk/run. All participants in the ride and walk/run will receive a free gift bag and an invitation to a special closed practice of the 2011–2012 UConn men’s basketball team at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs in October 2011.
The event also includes a summer barbeque, hot air balloon rides, children’s activities, and more. The UConn Health Center Department of Dermatology will provide free skin cancer screenings, sponsored by CIGNA, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and UConn’s trophies for 2011, 2004 and 1999 NCAA men’s basketball championships will be displayed.
The event is hosted by Hall of Fame Coach Jim Calhoun, head coach of the UConn men’s basketball team and a three-time cancer survivor. Calhoun will participate in the bike ride along with a number of UConn men’s basketball assistant coaches and former players. His wife, Pat Calhoun, will lead the 5K walk/run with WTIC 1080 “Sports Talk” hosts Joe D’Ambrosio and Kevin Nathan.
Children and well-behaved, leashed dogs are welcome in the 5K walk. Register online at http://www.calhounridewalk.com or call 860-674-1500 for more information.
Melissa Pionzio