For a group of Ryan Stapleton's friends, the mission to honor his memory rolls on Saturday.
Stapleton died of cancer in May of 2010, and in his memory a close-knit group of friends decided to establish a memorial bike and car run. Proceeds benefit a Mon Valley youth that is suffering from the disease.
The fifth annual Ryan Stapleton Bike Run will kick off at the Fairhope Rod and Gun Club in Washington Township at 11:30 a.m.
“Every year, everything we do benefits a child from the Mon Valley,” Lorri Pfrogner said Friday. “We're supposed to have great weather and we're expecting over 100 riders. It's been our best year by far.”
Pfrogner said an 80-mile run is scheduled. The event is expected to conclude at the club approximately 5 p.m., but the festivities will continue.
“We have entertainment lined up for the remainder of the night,” Pfrogner said. “We'll have food, a DJ and a gift auction.
“We cannot thank the (Mon Valley) businesses enough for what they've done for us this year, especially with the auction.”
This year's event benefits Kelsy Lawson, who graduated from Belle Vernon Area High School last week. She was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
“We have our meetings to plan the event, and every person on the committee just knew that this was who we were going to do this year's event for,” Pfrogner said of Lawson, a Webster resident. “All of our kids go to (BVA), so as soon as we heard about (Kelsy), we just knew.”
Registration will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Cost is $20 for a motorcycle and $25 for a carload. T-shirts are also available.
Jeremy Sellew is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at jsellew@tribweb.com or 724-684-2667.
