Ridgefielders are needed to make some noise this Saturday, March 28, at 10:30 a.m., at The Community Center, to cheer on Team 26!
Team 26 are the cyclists who will be doing the 300-mile bike ride from Edmond Town Hall in Newtown. CT to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about the need for gun safety and control, as well as to honor the victims whose lives were lost in the Sandy Hook school shooting on December 14, 2012.
The 8 a.m. send-off rally before the 9 a.m. departure from Newtown will put the cyclists in Ridgefield at 10:00 a.m. Anyone who does not want to, or is unable to, ride the full 26 miles from Newtown to Ridgefield can join the bikers at 10 a.m. at Ballard Park (Main St., Ridgefield) on their bikes and join Team 26 for the ride down Main Street to the Community Center (316 Main St.), or just show up at the Community Center rally and cheer on the cyclists!
At 10:30 a.m., First Selectman Rudy Marconi will speak at the rally, along with other leaders. Everyone is encouraged to attend and cheer on the cyclists of not only Team 26, but also riders from Ridgefield Bicycle Sport Club and others.
It was two years ago that a group of 26 bicyclists aka Team 26, representing the 26 lives that were lost, left Newtown wearing their green and white jerseys, amid cheers and applause, to raise awareness about gun safety laws. This year, the cyclists will ride from Sandy Hook, Connecticut to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., from March 28 – 31 in the 3rd annual Sandy Hook Ride on Washington (“SHROW”).
From Ridgefield, Team 26 will continue on to Greenwich and end Day 1 in Harlem at the National Action Network. From there, the itinerary takes the cyclists to Montclair, NJ, Ambler, PA and on to Delaware, Maryland and finally arriving in Washington D.C. and Arlington, VA on March 31. Team 26’s partners include community leaders and organizations, elected officials as well as grassroots and national gun violence prevention groups.
“We all ride together because we care deeply about our children and seek to reduce gun violence, “said a spokesman for Team 26. For more information, visit Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandyHookRideOnWashington; www.sandyhookrideonwashington.com.