13th Kelly Brush Ride Set For Sept. 8 - Supports Adaptive Sports & Ski Racing Safety
The 13th annual Kelly Brush Ride powered by VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations is scheduled for Saturday, September 8 in Middlebury, Vermont. Participants can register online to ride 100, 50, 20 or 10 miles, and/or play a round of golf at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course at Middlebury College.
The Kelly Brush Ride, which rolls through Vermont's beautiful Champlain Valley with views of the Adirondacks across Lake Champlain to the west and Vermont's Green Mountains to the east, was voted “Best Century Ride” by Vermont Sports in March 2018. There are some new additions to the event this year, with a beer tent serving Switchback and the option to play golf.
The Kelly Brush Ride is a charity fundraising ride, with proceeds supporting the Kelly Brush Foundation's mission to inspire and empower people with spinal cord injuries to live active lives. The Kelly Brush Foundation awards Active Fund grants to individuals with paralysis to help buy adaptive sports equipment such as handcycles and monoskis. The ride also supports the foundation’s ski racing safety program. The Kelly Brush Ride is the organization’s largest fundraiser of the year, and the majority of Active Fund grants are made possible by riders who fundraise.
“The Kelly Brush Ride has become an iconic New England event because of the incredible community that has built up around it” said Zeke Davisson, Executive Director of the Kelly Brush Foundation. “This community has driven the growth of the Kelly Brush Foundation and made it possible to award over 620 grants in 47 states to people with spinal cord injuries to purchase the expensive adaptive sports equipment that allows them to get outside and reclaim their active lifestyles.”
Timo Shaw, president of title sponsor VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations, is deeply committed to the Kelly Brush Ride and the organization’s mission. “We feel strongly about the work done at Kelly Brush Foundation, and have been title sponsor of the ride for seven years” said Shaw. “It is very special to see over 800 bicyclists, handcyclists, families, ski teams, and community members all coming together to get outside and support a great cause.”
The Kelly Brush Ride powered by VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations is made possible thanks to the generosity of many participants, volunteers and sponsors including: VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations, Key Bank, Sugarbush, Shearer Audi, Murphy Realty Company, Aerie Consulting, Nokian Tires, Catamount Financial Partners, World Cup Supply, our hosts on the Middlebury Ski Team, and more than 30 other generous sponsors.
The Kelly Brush Foundation is a dynamic and growing Burlington, Vermont-based non-profit inspiring and empowering people with spinal cord injuries to be active and working closely with the alpine ski racing community to improve safety. The Kelly Brush Foundation was founded in 2006 by Kelly and her family after Kelly sustained a spinal cord injury while racing in an NCAA alpine ski race. To date the Kelly Brush Foundation has awarded over 620 adaptive equipment grants to people in 47 states.
