Saturday, April 14, 2018 brought 238 bike riders to Waxhaw to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Organized by James Allison of Wesley Chapel, the inaugural RM3 A Ride to End Leukemia and Lymphoma raised over $10,000 and helped spread awareness of the diseases. Local businesses and volunteers came together to make this ride one that will be welcome again to Waxhaw and Union County.
Allison became inspired to help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) after his best friend’s cancer returned. His friend, Robert Gordon McNaughton, III (RM3), encouraged Allison to take care of himself and become healthier. He started biking while raising money and awareness for LLS before creating his own ride to raise funds for research. There were three different routes available, 100km, 60 km, and 15k, as well as a Family Fun Ride. Money was also raised through Silent Auction and Raffle Ticket sales. Robb McNaughton, who the ride is named for, passed away last summer.
Allison also worked very hard to make sure that the ride and influx of bikers was as undisruptive as possible to Waxhaw and Union County. “We try our best to make this a pleasant event for all those in the area. I realize that 100’s of bikers on the roads has an impact to the community. I want to make sure we do our best to incorporate goodwill with motorists, hence we ride in the most rural roads possible, only riding briefly as possible on populated roads. I worked closely with the Union County Sheriff’s office and Jay Scholer to make sure our route had the least impact on motorists. The Waxhaw Police department was vital and made this ride a great event. I visited many Waxhaw businesses in efforts to make sure that bringing in 150+ extra vehicles in on a Saturday morning provided as little negative impact as possible while providing the local business with a boost by bringing in potential new customers. I offered many the Waxhaw downtown businesses to cone and mark parking so that our riders would not park in spaces that would negatively impact them. I was surprised to find that no one had offered to do this before, it just made sense to me.”
Many volunteers came together to make this ride a success. Allison specifically wanted to thank the following for their help with the event: LT. Dexter Wilson; Ursula Stack; Janet at Sospeso Coffee; Karen at Waxhaw Business Center; The Waxhaw Police department; The Town of Waxhaw and the Mayor; Lisa Hoffman; Stacks; Ren Marie, Ken Hough, Chistine Cowan and the others who worked at the rest areas; King’s Deli; Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church; Pepperoni’s Pizza; and everyone else who worked hard to make this event happen.
Allison is already looking towards the next fundraising ride, “I would like this to become a premier bike ride in NC with 300+ riders where we raise $100k+ annually and really make a difference. To create a great experience for the riders, and to see beautiful rural Union County.”
Please visit https://www.rm3ride.com/ for more information.
