News Release

May 20, 2008
TO:	Weekend assignment editors, reporters
FROM:	Amy Lunday | 443-287-9960 | acl@jhu.edu
RE:	Hopkins 4K for Cancer hits the road Sunday, May 25
WHEN:	Sunday, May 25 at 7:30 a.m.
WHERE:	Baltimore Inner Harbor

Nineteen students from across Johns Hopkins University and six friends from other schools will kick off the seventh annual fund-raising cross-country bicycle journey known as Hopkins 4K for Cancer. An hour send-off ceremony begins at 7:30 a.m. at Baltimore Inner Harbor. A representative from Mayor Dixon's office will speak. Representatives from the American Cancer Society and WellPoint Inc., a health care plan that is also major sponsor of the ride, will also be speaking, along with Dr. Jean G. Ford, a pulmonary physician whose clinical interests are in the prevention and diagnosis of lung cancer. He directs community programs and community- based research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

At 8:30 a.m., the students will ceremoniously dip their bikes' back tires in the water before embarking on their 4,000-mile coast-to-coast trip. The journey will end on July 26 at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Upon their arrival on the West Coast, the students will dip their bikes' front tires in the water.

To date, this year's fundraising effort has netted more than $100,000 for the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, a residence for out-of-town cancer patients seeking treatment at Baltimore hospitals. Information about the group and its mission is online at www.hopkins4k.org. To reach the students this weekend regarding media coverage, contact rider and publicity coordinator Daniel Ingram at 908-370-7819. For press inquiries related to the American Cancer Society, contact Dawn Ward at 410-933-5134.