By Erin Hicks
EMS1 Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Seven days and more than 600 miles after it began, the 2010 National EMS Memorial Bike Ride came to a close this past weekend.
About 120 riders along with sponsors, supporters and coordinators gathered Saturday in Alexandria, Va., to commemorate the event and mourn the loss of fallen EMS personnel over the past year.
The closing ceremony featured a range of guest speakers including FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino, the former head of Boston EMS. A number of awards were also presented and members of various Memorial Pipes and Drums bands — including New York, Boston, and Pittsburgh — performed.
The purpose of the ride, now in its eighth year, is to honor EMS personnel with a long-distance cycling event that “memorializes and celebrates the lives of those who serve everyday, those who have become sick or injured while performing their duties, and those who have died in the line of duty,” according to the mission statement of organizers, The Muddy Angels.
This year’s journey began in three locations on May; the northern route got under way in both Bennington, Vt., and South Portland, Maine, while the southern route started in Paintsville, Ky.
Among the familiar participants in the 2010 event was The Austin Paramedic Cycle Team, which came together in 2007 to ride for Eric Hanson, a responder killed coming home from an early-morning call in a head-on collision. One of the riders, Tree Marsoobian, field paramedic at Austin-Travis County EMS, said she and her coworkers Mark Hawkins, special operations rescue paramedic and captain, and Susan Erwin, district commander, have been back every year since.
“It’s an amazing organization to go out there and ride with paramedics and EMTs from all over the country, and even other countries, for this one cause,” she said.
Marsoobian and Hawkins performed support while Erwin hit the bike every day. She said she trained for seven hard months to tackle the 600-mile course, battling steep New England hills and rain in New York City. She said her favorite part of the ride was cycling through the city, escorted by police.
“It’s not every day you have traffic stop for you,” she said. “Even though it was cold and miserable in New York we were having the time of our lives.”
Traditionally, the close of the event coincides with the National EMS Memorial Service in Roanoke, Va.; however, this year the service will take place June 26 in Colorado Springs.
In support of the National EMS Memorial Service, the Muddy Angels will additionally hold a special one-day ride on June 25 that starts in Denver and ends in Colorado Springs.
Muddy Angels President Jennifer Frenette said despite having to plan the first ever closing ceremony in for the ride, she is ecstatic with how this year’s event went.
“It’s a ton of work but I hope we can continue this for years to come,” said Frenette, who rode herself for a few days. “We are all volunteers — no one gets a dime.”
Every rider pays an entry fee of $250 and matches that same amount in fundraising money. Frenette estimates they matched last year’s amount of $24,000.
“People who organize this are EMTs and paramedics, not professional event organizers. What they do for a living is save lives, and they just happen to have a passion to make this bike ride happen, too,” Franette says.