This will be the 10th year in a row that I participate in the Tri-State Trek, the 280-mile bike ride from Boston to Greenwich, Conn. to call attention to ALS. Why do I continue to ride? Because after all these years of fundraising, there's still no cure for ALS, a cruel fatal disease that causes total paralysis.  After our brother Chuck died of ALS in 2009, my brother Breen and I vowed to keep riding until researchers discover a cure. Last year, the FDA approved the first new drug to treat ALS in over 20 years. There is evidence the drug slows disease progression in some patients. But it's not a cure and we need to keep going. ALS-TDI which sponsors the annual Trek, is the largest non-profit research institution in the U.S. devoted entirely to ALS research. They depend on the nearly $1 million raised by the Trek every year – almost 10% of their annual budget -- to help fund numerous promising research projects. Thanks to all of you, CrushALS/TeamBannon alone raised a record $250,000 last year, the biggest fundraiser of the Trek.   Our team that began in 2009 with three riders has grown to 29 this summer from across the U.S. including Chicago, Washington D.C., Ohio, New York and New Jersey. I’d like to thank all of you for a decade of donations and especially your moral support through the years. You don’t have to give every year, and you don’t have to give much. For those who do, please know you are making a difference. Never Give Up!  

Be a part of something BIG. Team Bannon started nearly 10 years ago when a brother and sister began riding through their grief after loosing a sibling to ALS.  They committed to keep riding until there is a cure.  We are now 17 riders deep and growing, and our team alone has raised over a million dollars!  What is even bigger is that breakthroughs in medicine and technology are gaining momentum.  New drugs, coupled with new capabilities in patient monitoring and data processing mean there is more than hope.  There is more tahn ever, a path to cure.  Pleases join me in being a part of somehting big.   Make a donation and then sign up for the ALS TDI newsletter to watch this thing unfold.  Sandra Wilson  

This summer I am riding 270 miles to find an effective treatment for ALS. Although I have not had a family member afflicted with this illness, my friend, Lisa Bannon lost her brother. Lisa has been working tirelessly to raise money to help find a cure for ALS since his passing. The ALS Therapy Development Institute which receives the funds, is coming closer to finding a cure.  I have been a financial supporter for her and I've helped her train for this epic ride ever since she began.  Now I would like to join her and the team of riders she has put together to help contribute even more.  I am honored to ride with this group! Please help support my efforts

By now, almost everyone knows about ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).  Many have had the misfortune of direct experience with the disease.  Suffice it to say that it is a devastating and dreadful disease.  We are committed to eradicating it. ALS is not incurable.  Rather, it is underfunded.  The Tri State Trek provides a meaningful portion of the annual budget of the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS-TDI).  ALS-TDI is the world's foremost drug discovery center focused exclusively on ALS.  Pioneering the "biotech model," ALS-TDI places the patient at the center of every decision made in the lab.  The team of scientists at ALS-TDI collaborates daily in the lab and through pharmaceutical company partnerships worldwide to discover cures and treatment for ALS. Just since I began riding in the Tri State Trek in 2015,  ALS-TDI has developed a novel antibody known as AT-1501, which acts in a highly targeted disease specific way to tamp down the immune system.  This potential therapeutic has been extensively screened and is now ready for clinical trial.  Currently, it is being evaluated for safety in non-human primates after demonstrating very promising signs in laboratory mice.  The estimated cost of the Phase 2 portion of this trial is a whopping $30 million. Last summer our team, Team Bannon-Crush ALS, raised more than $200,000.00 in contributions to the Tri State Trek.  The total amount of donations raised by all teams approached $1 million.  This year (the tenth for our team) we have set a lofty goal of $300,000.00 for the team and $1.5 million for the ride itself.  This can only happen through the generosity and compassion of our wonderful donors. While I have not had a relative diagnosed with ALS, I have clearly been impacted by the disease through the people I have met who are associated with the Tri State Trek and ALS TDI.  The riders and those they ride for, as well as the doctors and staff at ALS TDI, are truly inspirational. It is rewarding to see our team grow and our fund raising efforts flourish for such a worthwhile cause. This is the only cause for which you will ever receive a fundraising plea from me. The 270 mile, three-day bike ride, from Boston to Greenwich, CT,  takes place June 22-24, 2018.  I am asking that you support me as we make our way through the winding hills of Massachusetts and Connecticut and into New York.  Your contribution will place your name on the list of recipients of my daily ride updates, as I share this wonderful experience with you. Please be as generous as you can. And please take a moment to view the inspirational video attached describing this epic ride.  I hope that you will find this to be a worthwhile cause.  Thank you, in advance, for your support. Riding for a cure, Bob    

I have now been involved with the Tri State Trek for six years.  The Trek consists of a 280-mile bike ride undertaken over three days from Boston, through the rolling hills of Connecticut and New York and ending in downtown Greenwich. Many of you have previously received my request for support for this event, which supports ALS Therapy Development Institute (www.als.net), the Boston-based non-profit biotech research firm, dedicated to finding a cure for ALS. This year marks a few milestones.  My team, Crush ALS/Team Bannon, will be riding for the tenth consecutive year.  Thanks in part to the generosity of many of you, it is poised to break the $1 million mark for funds raised over the years.  Last year, our team raised a record $225,000 (25% of the total raised) and we are aiming to break that record this year. Money raised from the Trek goes directly to support the operations and research of ALS TDI ( www.als.net ), the world’s foremost drug discovery center focused solely on ALS.  Some highlights of progress being made: A new potential treatment is headed to the clinic this year. AT1501, a novel compound discovered and developed at ALSTDI, will begin Phase I testing in the next few months. ALSTDI validated another potential treatment, called Copper ATSM.  Because of work with collaborators, the drug is now in clinical trial in Australia.  ALSTDI will work, this year, to discover analogs (derivatives) of the molecule that may could prove to be more efficacious than the current version. ALSTDI launched the world’s first Precision Medicine Program for ALS.  The goal of this program is to partner with patients to identify subsets of ALS that may be amenable to treatment.  Some highlights of the program are: Over 500 people living with ALS are participating in the program; making this one of the larges clinical programs in the history of ALS. Data is collected through fully sequenced genomes of all participants, wearable devices to track progression, voice recordings, and skin samples are converted to stem cells to create a ‘model’ of each person’s disease. A by-product of the program is that, for the first time, patients can track their own progression to assess the effect of medicines and experimental treatments. Google has joined with ALSTDI to analyze our longitudinal voice recordings to identify vocal changes in disease progression. This year, we hope to be able to enroll 300 more patients in the program.   Those diagnosed with ALS generally live 2-5 years after first being diagnosed.  There are 6,000 new diagnoses each year and 30,000 people living with the disease in the U.S.  Because of these small numbers of cases relative to the population, dollars available for research, particularly from public sources, is severally limited.  Hence the need for private fundraising such as the Trek to provide significant additional support for research. The second milestone this year relates to my career.  For those who have not heard, I am retiring from Clarion Partners at the end of June, to pursue other business and personal interests.  I have gotten to know many of you from our business dealings and I am extremely grateful for your friendship over the years.  I will again not be riding the 280 miles this year, but this cause is so important to me that I am continuing to raise funds for ALS research.  I am humbly asking for your support and will again match all contributions received dollar for dollar.  Please log on to my fundraising page at http://tst.als.net/SteveLatimer to contribute.  I am very appreciative of your support.   Steve

This summer, I will be participating in the Tri State Trek for the 6th year in a row. ALS has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My maternal grandmother, Betty Anne Chapman, was diagnosed with ALS in 1996, and lived with the disease until November 2013. It has become a passion of mine to work towards finding a cure for ALS. ALS TDI is the largest ALS research centre in the world, and any bit of funding they can get will help. Thank you for joining me in the fight to end ALS. 

Hi, it's that time of year again!  At the end of June, I will once again be participating in the Tri-State Trek to raise money for ALS research. The race is 280 miles, over three days, through the pretty but painful hills of New England. This year is extra special because it is the 10th anniversary of our founders, Lisa and Breen Bannon, and it my fifth year. Our team, Crush ALS/TeamBannon, is also bigger and better than ever with six new riders. Last year, our team raised more than $200,000. We hope to do even better this year. Please contribute if you can. Thanks! Andy

This summer I am riding 270 miles to find an effective treatment for ALS. Please support my efforts.  Ten years ago, I helped train Lisa Bannon, the captain of the CrushALS team for her first Trek, and have been so impressed by her efforts on this ride and with the fundraising she has been able to do.  I've been lucky to meet many of the other team members, and am finally stepping up to the plate to share in this experience with them.  ALS is a devastating disease, and it's time to find the cure.  It is my honor and privilege to sweat up and down the hills of MA and CT with the team, and I am just praying for no rain, as that appears to be the typical blessing of this specific weekend in June every year!  But come rain or come shine, I'll ride!

This summer I am riding 270 miles to find an effective treatment for ALS. Please support my efforts.