Locals ride for a cause
By John Joyce
Published in News on October 4, 2014 10:59 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/JOHN JOYCE
Bike the Boro organizer Dexter Yelverton talks to Tom Bradshaw, vice president of operations at Wayne Memorial Hospital, before the charity cycling event Saturday.
For a moment, it appeared overnight rain had put a damper on a charity cycling event scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
Only one rider had registered and Dexter Yelverton, the organizer of Bike the Boro, was getting worried.
But with 15 minutes until the event kicked off, more than a dozen helmet-clad residents converged on the park -- each opting to take on a 30-mile route for a good cause.
Cyclists came from as far as High Point to participate in the first-of-its-kind fundraiser.
Yelverton, a physical education teacher at Mount Olive Middle School, planned the event as a way to get Wayne County families moving -- and to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County and Wayne County 4-H.
John Gately, who recently moved to Goldsboro from New Jersey, said he came out to meet more people involved in cycling.
Greg Barker, a Tampa native and recent U.S. Air Force retiree showed up for similar reasons.
"I wanted to meet more of the local folks and members of the cycling club," he said.
And Tom Bradshaw, vice president of operations at Wayne Memorial Hospital, traded in his coat and tie for a cyclist jersey and bike shorts Saturday -- and estimated the 30-mile run would take close to two hours.
"In a cyclist group, the riders would be drafting, staying in a tight group and rotating out from the lead," he said, adding that at that pace, an experienced cycling club could finish the run in an hour. "With this group, they'll probably be taking their time today," he said.
Cyclists who pre-registered online received Bike the Boro T-shirts upon check-in. Those who waited until Saturday to register still got to ride, but will wait two weeks to receive their shirts.
Yelverton's daughters, Demya, 13, and Micaiah, 16, helped lend a hand at the registration table, as did volunteers Tammy Farrior and Elizabeth Lewis.
Ms. Farrior and Ms. Lewis work with Yelverton at the middle school.
"We're here to support the event. It's a worthy cause that everyone can be involved in," Ms. Farrior said.
Carmaelita and Vincent Dockery, and their adult daughter Alexandria Gordon, also came out to support their friend.
"I was a classmate of (Yelverton's) and he contacted me, told me about this," Dockery said. "It's very big, it's real good for the community."