Nine employees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock rode nearly 550 miles in honor of a vice chancellor’s brother who is battling cancer. 

Steve McClellan, UA Little Rock vice chancellor for finance and administration, sponsored the employees to ride the Tour de Rock on June 1 in honor of his brother, Bruce McClellan, who is battling lung cancer.

CARTI’s 16th annual Tour de Rock supports CARTI’s continued fight against cancer by providing the most advanced forms of treatment available while also meeting the needs of patients and their families. Nearly 1,000 cyclists rode one of four routes of 25, 50, 62, or 100 miles.

This is the second year that McClellan has sponsored a team of UA Little Rock cyclists to ride the Tour de Rock and raise money for cancer. Last year, the UA Little Rock team rode nearly 500 miles in honor of Bruce McClellan.

“One of the most touching things about the event is that you get to write the name of a person who is fighting cancer on your shirt,” said Martial Trigeaud, business consultant with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center and faculty advisor of the UA Little Rock Cycling Club. “This year, we wrote the name of Steve’s brother, Bruce. Many people also wrote the name of another friend or relative, someone they love, who has faced cancer.”

UA Little Rock employees and students who rode in the Tour de Rock include Alex Biris, director of the Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences; Thomas Bunton, associate vice chancellor and chief information officer; Molly Castner, deputy athletic director and senior woman administrator; Emilie Darrigues, a Ph.D. student of applied science; John Evans, senior associate athletic director for facilities and events; Ian Hadden, director of energy management services; Ashton Hale, a criminal justice graduate student; Sean Orme, a Ph.D. student in computer science; and Trigeaud.

One of UA Little Rock’s riders, Hadden, even took on the special challenge of riding in the pace group, where cyclists complete 100 miles in under 5 hours. Hadden finished 100 miles in 4:54:03 and burned 8,680 calories in that time.