{"id":233316,"date":"2025-07-30T16:19:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=233316"},"modified":"2025-07-31T10:40:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:40:44","slug":"uconn-medical-students-bike-cross-country-for-suicide-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/07\/uconn-medical-students-bike-cross-country-for-suicide-prevention\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Medical Students Bike Cross-Country for Suicide Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two second-year UConn medical students successfully completed their coast-to-coast bike ride for a cause cycling in just 50 days, over 3,200 miles, and even in a heat index of 100 degrees.<\/p>\n

But who\u2019s counting?<\/p>\n

\"James
James Marks and Zach Giguere arriving back to UConn School of Medicine on July 30, 2025 (UConn Photo\/Lauren Woods).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

James Marks, 25, of Guilford, and Zach Giguere, 24, of Windsor, are no longer counting miles nor minutes to being home in Connecticut. On July 30, their triumphant return was celebrated outside UConn School of Medicine where they were greeted at the Academic Entrance by the loud and proud cheers of their fellow medical school classmates, faculty, and families.<\/p>\n

The song \u201cThe Boys are Back in Town\u201d played from a classmate\u2019s car, as classmate Jack O\u2019Donnell shouted, \u201cThe boys are back!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Coast
(UConn Photo\/Lauren Woods.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two UConn cyclists\u2019 mighty, once-in-a- lifetime coast-to-coast bike ride started on the West Coast on June 10<\/a> in Seattle. The ride was in honor of a lifesaving cause \u2013 suicide prevention, and their mission was to raise awareness and funds to\u00a0advance national mental health research via the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They far exceeded their mission.
\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. We started with a $10,000 fundraising goal and so have raised well over $20,000. It feels really good,\u201d said Marks. \u201cThat was the whole point of our trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their bike trek marks the 20th anniversary that UConn medical and dental students have made the huge summer Coast-2-Coast bike journey annually across America for varied health causes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that investing in suicide prevention\u2014through research, crisis support, and accessible mental health care\u2014can save lives. We are committed to raising awareness, advocating for change, and ensuring that no one feels alone in their struggle,\u201d the UConn students shared.<\/p>\n

Suicide prevention is deeply personal to Marks. \u201cI lost my Dad,\u201d Marks shared at the start of the bike trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am glad I can do this journey to raise awareness.\u201d Giguere adds, \u201cOur ultimate goal was to raise awareness of suicide and get people to talk about it, so we can prevent it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 31 they ride a few more miles, thankfully with no more heavy bike gear, to ceremoniously dip their wheels in the ocean along the Madison shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to jump in the ocean,\u201d said Giguere.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd shower,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Zach
UConn medical student Zach Giguere was also welcomed home from his cross-country bike trek by his mom Lisa (UConn Photo\/Lauren Woods).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Giguere celebrated his 24th birthday on the road and his mother Lisa can\u2019t wait to celebrate his belated birthday with a homemade blueberry pie, the first pie she ever baked. She even handpicked the blueberries for the special occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cZach was never much of a bike person,\u201d shared Mom, who was surprised he was even game for the long bike journey. \u201cJames did it for very personal reasons. Zach did it because he knows how important the cause is. I\u2019m so proud of both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UConn medical students did have just a little prep, 5 or 6 classes, in training for their big trip thanks to their medical student classmate Alyssa Harduby, who teaches a spin class at UConn Health\u2019s Wellness Center.<\/p>\n

Second-year UConn medical student Brooke Charria, who helped organize the students\u2019 homecoming, shared, \u201cWe are very proud of them. It\u2019s such an accomplishment. It\u2019s not something everyone can do. They even doubled their fundraising goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two riders and future doctors loved seeing America.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinnesota was awesome!\u201d Marks exclaimed, noting that they took in a Twins baseball game. \u201cMinnesota was one of the best parts of the trip. Minneapolis is a great city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Coast
(UConn Photo\/Lauren Woods).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two men had great appreciation of all the kind Americans they met, for all those who graciously hosted and sheltered them during their long journey, and the chance to see the country.<\/p>\n

They also noted that the Midwest wants more doctors: \u201cEveryone asked us to come back and be doctors there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe even saw a rodeo in North Dakata,\u201d Giguere said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had freezing rain in Montana. It was really cold! Our hottest weather is probably today in Connecticut,\u201d Marks said, adding that nothing beats being finally home in Connecticut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a good feeling seeing the Welcome to Connecticut sign,\u201d Marks sighed with relief. During the epic bike trip, he and Giguere have even become bike repair experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a bunch of flat tires. I\u2019m pretty quick at changing them now. We\u2019ll add it to the resume,\u201d Marks joked.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Coast
(UConn Photo\/Lauren Woods).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Donate to their suicide prevention cause.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow their Coast-2-Coast journey on Instagram @_coast2coast25_<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn School of Medicine students\u2019 Coast-2-Coast bike trek raises over $20,000 for mental health research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":233325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,2459,2193,2388,2194,1868,99,2235,179,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-233316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-impact","category-graduate-students","category-hartford-county","category-healthcare-workforce","category-new-haven-county","category-meds","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 11:08:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233316"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233343,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233316\/revisions\/233343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/233325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233316"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=233316"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=233316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}