Media Advisory

Twenty students from The Johns Hopkins University and seven friends from other schools will kick off the fifth annual fund-raising cross-country bicycle journey known as Hopkins 4K for Cancer. A half-hour send-off ceremony begins at 7:30 a.m. on the steps of Shriver Hall on the Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. Past participants and current riders will be speaking, along with Gloria Jetter, regional executive director of the South Atlantic Division/Maryland Region, of the American Cancer Society. At 8:15 a.m., the students will pedal to the Inner Harbor where they will ceremoniously dip their bikes' back tires in the water at approximately 8:45 a.m. before embarking on their 4,000-mile coast-to-coast trip. The journey will end on July 30 at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Upon their arrival on the West Coast, the students will dip their bikes' front tires in the water.

To date, this year's fundraising effort has netted more than $70,000 for the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge, a residence for out-of-town cancer patients seeking treatment at Baltimore hospitals. Information about the group and its mission is online at http://www.hopkins4k.org. To reach the students this weekend regarding media coverage, contact co-directors Katie Ross [847-989-6536] and Joe Siegel [603-731-8094]. For press inquiries related to the American Cancer Society, contact Dawn Ward at 410-933-5134.