Cyclists Riding to Alaska For Cancer Make Pit-Stop in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– Texas 4000 cycling participants make a pit-stop in Springfield along their route from Texas to Alaska.

Twenty-seven University of Texas students will arrive in Springfield in the afterneoon on June 15 after cycling from Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

This is just one leg of their trip — the group is participating in the Texas 4000, a 4500 mile ride from Austin, TX to Anchorage, Alaska to raise funds and awareness to fight cancer.

The Springfield stopping point will be the Doubletree Hilton Hotel at Glenstone and Kearney, where operator Tim O’Reilly has donated rooms for the long distance riders.

The Heart of the Ozarks Sertoma Club will set up its cook trailer to prepare brats, hotdogs and hamburgers for cyclists, who also will be treated to Blue Bunny ice cream bars.

Several members of the Springbike bicycling club plan to head south and accompany the Texas students to town; others will accompany them June 16 when they resume their trip enroute to Waynesville, Mo.

The bikers also will be greeted by cancer survivors organized by the American Cancer Society.

A total of 79 University of Texas students are taking part in the longest fund raising ride in the world – two other groups are riding along the west coast and along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains.

The three groups will converge in Canada for the final ride to Anchorage.

This is the 10th year for the ride, but only the second year a route has come through the Ozarks.

For more visit the group’s website here.