Israeli students bike across the US to fight cancer
Raising $100,000 for cancer research on their journey, two Israelis reach finish line in New York after riding for three months
Two Israeli students completed a 5,000km (roughly 3,100 miles) bicycle journey in the US, riding from Los Angeles to New York for three months. They raised $100,000 donations to fight cancer.
Ido Aharoni, Israel’s Consul General in New York greeted them at a welcoming reception held in New York. Tom Peled, 25, who initiated the journey, told Ynet: "My father died of cancer after eight years of a hard and heroic struggle. To pull myself out of this crisis and clear my head, I went on a bike ride for three moths from Berlin to Spain.
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"This personal journey helped me and as a result I decided once back in Israel to reach out to other people who have been through similar experiences and get them involved in some positive activity," Peleg added.
Biking for a cause (Photo: Luca Seres)
Peled recruited his friend Roey Peleg, 27, an elite IDF unit combat soldier and triathlon participant and together the two established "Bike for the Fight". Last June they raised NIS 40,000 (roughly $10,500) for cancer research.
Three months ago the pair landed in LA and together with two additional students, went on the journey headed to NYC, passing Jewish communities along the way, holding talks and raising funds for the cause.
Riding over 100 km per day (Photo: Luca Seres)
Peleg, who was in charge of navigation said: "The route was planned according to the location of Jewish communities. We biked through the desert to Las Vegas and onward to Utah, climbing the Rocky Mountains and downhill to the never ending cornfields of Nebraska. This journey was tough not only physically; it was filled with events and happenings at the communities that donated money."
"We rode over 100 km (roughly 62 miles) per day for five or six hours, then arrived at the community in order to participate in events held at synagogues and campuses attended by hundreds of people. We were also interviewed by the local channels. We are not professional fund raisers, but were driven from a pure wish to inspire and give hope so the money came.
"This is not the end but the launch of a greater thing. We will return to Israel and plan a local bike journey people could join, and next year we plan to cross the US from north to south along the east coast all the way to Florida," He concluded.
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