15th Annual Cory’s Ride Bicycle Event and Fundraiser This Saturday

Golis
Golis

Area bicyclists will ride through the scenic countryside of towns like Chesterfield Saturday morning in memory of the boy whose name has become synonymous with the mission of the Anchor House shelter for runaway and abused children.

Cory’s Ride, which raises scholarship money for young adults who are headed to college or planning to attend a technical school, rolls out of Tall Cedars Picnic Grove on Sawmill Road in Hamilton Saturday morning, rain or shine.

Cory Golis died in 1998 in a cycling accident while raising money for Anchor House, a Trenton-based nonprofit that provides shelter and other services to runaway, abandoned and abused children and families.

Fifteen years after the 15-year-old was struck by a vehicle and killed on the last leg of Anchor House’s annual week-long Ride for Runaways, Golis continues to influence the lives of young men and women through a scholarship program that was created in his memory. The event, an area tradition that draws more than 200 bicyclists annually, is sponsored by the Anchor House Foundation with the blessing and support of the Golis family.

Anyone 18 or older with a bicycle and a helmet is welcome to show up at the picnic grove and choose between 10-mile, 20-mile and 50-mile routes that have been mapped out for participants. The 50-mile ride includes a few hills.

On-site registration for the ride is from 7 to 9 a.m. Riders who want to do the 50-mile ride should start by 7:30 a.m., those who want to do the 20-mile ride should begin by 9 a.m., and cyclists completing the 10-mile route should begin by 10 a.m. The registration fee of $35 goes toward the Cory C. Golis Anchor House Scholarship Fund.

The event always draws a host of newcomers as well as veterans. Some of the riders are bicyclists training for the 35th annual Anchor House ride, a 500-mile ride. The cyclists will start biking from Burlington, Vermont on July 14 and finish their ride at the Quaker Bridge Mall on July 20.

Cyclists who ride Saturday will enjoy a picnic after the ride. The 2013 scholarship recipients will be named during the picnic. Winners have been invited to attend.

Last year more than $12,000 in scholarships was awarded to area high school students in honor of Golis. The college scholarships are often given to students whose families have been though some sort of hardship.

For further information about Anchor House or Cory’s Ride,  or to make a contribution to the Cory C. Golis Anchor House Scholarship Fund or Anchor House, contact the Anchor House Foundation at (609) 278-9495 or visit www.anchorhouseride.org or www.corysride.com.

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.