UConn Health

May 31, 2013 | Chris DeFrancesco '94 (CLAS) - UConn Health

8th Coast to Coast Team Leaves June 12

A UConn medical student and a UConn dental student will spend the summer as a cross-country cycling duo to raise money for leukemia research.

Dan Beauvais (left) and Pat Field will cycle across the country this summer to raise money for Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research. This is the eighth Coast to Coast for a Cure ride. (Photo by Ethan Talbot)

Dan Beauvais (left) and Pat Field will cycle across the country this summer to raise money for Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research. This is the eighth Coast to Coast for a Cure ride. (Photo by Ethan Talbot)
Dan Beauvais (left) and Pat Field will cycle across the country this summer to raise money for Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research. This is the eighth Coast to Coast for a Cure ride. (Photo by Ethan Talbot)

For an eighth year, a team of students fresh out of their first year will carry on the annual UConn School of Medicine tradition of pedaling across the country to raise money for leukemia research.

This year, it’s a team of two, and one of them is a dental student.

Daniel Beauvais and Patrick Field didn’t know each other when they individually expressed interest in being part of Coast to Coast for a Cure, the fundraising ride started by two UConn medical students in 2006.

Now they’ll spend nearly the whole summer together, cycling about 4,000 miles over nearly two months. Their bikes are provided by the Hartford nonprofit Lea’s Foundation for Leukemia Research, a philanthropic supporter of UConn’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center and the ride’s beneficiary.

“We’re pretty excited for the unknown,” says Field, who graduated from UConn last year with a double major in chemistry and molecular cell biology. “I had heard about this trip while in Storrs and I made up my mind then that if I end up at UConn for medical school, I was doing it.”

Beauvais, who would be the first student from the UConn School of Dental Medicine to complete the trip, says, “I heard about it at the beginning of the year, and it sounded like the perfect way to spend my last free summer. I’ve always wanted to see the country; what better way to do it than by bike while supporting such a great foundation?”

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Both students describe themselves as physically active and say the longest bike trip they’ve taken was about 50 miles.

“We’ll have to do more than that every day,” Field says. “But we’re looking forward to it.”

They leave for San Francisco—by plane—June 12. They’ll assemble their bikes at the airport, make their way to the shore, and dip their tires in the Pacific Ocean to officially begin riding coast to coast. Along the way they’ll post updates and photos at http://coasttocoastforacure2013.blogspot.com.

The number of riders on the Coast to Coast for a Cure team has varied over the years. It’s usually four, last year it was three, and that first ride in 2006 was the last time it was only two.

“We both want to raise at least $4,000 a piece,” Beauvais says.

They ask anyone wishing to help them reach that goal to go to http://leasfoundation.org/events, find the “Coast to Coast” box, and click “Donate.”

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