For the 32rd year, USA BMX will be holding Race for Life events throughout the country to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).  Since the inception of the Race For Life series in 1981, BMX riders and tracks have raised more than $5 million in support of LLS’s mission.  You can make a difference Sunday, July 28th, the Race for Life comes to Richmond BMX.

Each year, Richmond BMX holds a Race for Life event as a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  This is one of two races at Richmond BMX that does not require a USA BMX membership.  Anyone and everyone is welcomed to come down to support the LLS.  Help us reach our goal of at least $2,000!

We hope you are as excited about this year’s Race For Life at Richmond BMX as we are. Getting the prizes and winning races is great, but helping others is one of the finest things anyone can ever do in life. This is your opportunity, through the sport you know and love, to help people in two ways. First, through your gathering of donations for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, you will be helping fight and bring to an end a dreadful disease that affects thousands of people each year. Secondly, you can introduce BMX to your friends, family, and neighbors that may not have thought that they would ever be able to participate in competitive BMX. Their contribution will be their entry into the finest sport in the world, BMX.


 

What is the Race for Life?

It all started in 1981 when an avid 12 year old BMX racer from Michigan discovered he had Leukemia. Todd Kingsbury was his name, and like many BMXers, he had dreams of someday becoming a top pro in the sport. Unfortunately, this dreaded disease would keep Todd from fulfilling his dream.

When Todd`s friends and the American Bicycle Association learned of his diagnosis, it was decided that an organized effort should be made to help in Todd`s “Race for Life.” The first “Race for Life” events were formed that year, with over 130 tracks participating and raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® .

Ever since, USA BMX has held a series of “Race for Life” events nationwide to help in the fight to find a cure for blood-related cancers. There are awards given to top fund raisers which include t-shirts, jackets and trips to the USA BMX Grandnationals of BMX.

Of course, the best reward of all is the good feeling of helping others with Leukemia.

 

The Todd Kingsbury Story

Like many kids his age, 11-year-old Todd Kingsbury lived and breathed bicycle motocross (BMX) 24 hours a day. In the early part of 1980, he was the leaders in the American Bicycle Association’s BMX district points competition. However, as the year went on, Todd went from winning the district-wide events to just barely qualifying for local BMX championship events. Something was wrong.

At a Michigan state championship race in July 1980, Todd crashed and had to get his arm checked out. Like most BMX accidents, everything checked out fine but Todd’s arm continued to hurt the following week. After getting bumped at school, his arm swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. The Kingsbury family became very concerned and decided it was time for a thorough examination.

Todd would spend the next nine days in and out of the hospital, enduing many tests and exams, while at the same time dreaming of someday becoming a BMX Pro. Finally, the doctors completed their diagnosis and explained to Todd and his parents that Todd had leukemia.

Todd was now faced with the biggest race: his race for life. In July 1981, when the American Bicycle Association (ABA) staff learned of Todd’s diagnosis, the organization and the “family-like” sport of BMX decided to pitch in and help by launching the “Race For Life” series, with all the proceeds going to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s efforts to help find a cure for kids such as Todd. An amazing $223,000 was raised that first year, with 130 ABA tracks putting on Race For Life events.

Although weakened by leukemia, Todd continued to ride and worked harder than anyone to support the Race For Life event at the Waterford Oaks, MI BMX track. Todd was to be the honorary race director for that race and told a reporter, “This (event) might help other people from getting it (leukemia).”

Todd passed away on Sept. 13, 1981 and was laid to rest in his Powerlite BMX uniform, taking with him a part of the sport he loved. In his 12 years of life, Todd touched many parents and racers. He is remembered in the hearts of all BMXers each year, as every ABA BMX track holds a Race For Life in the hope that someday, there will be a cure for leukemia and a deserving boy such as Todd can live a full life.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ® Fighting Blood-Related Cancers

Since its inception in 1949, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® has been committed to finding cures for all blood-related cancers, but has not been able to effectively portray the breadth of its mission under a banner that emphasized a focus only on leukemia. Additionally, the Society is deeply concerned with the dramatic and unexplained rise in incidence rates of lymphoma during the last half of the 20th century. So on February 1, 2000, the Society unveiled a new name and logo. The new name, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® , along with a tag line, Fighting Blood-Related Cancers, was crafted to clarify the diseases that the Society fights.

We`re the same organization with the same mission. But we want everyone with a connection to blood-related cancers – patients, physicians and supporters – to understand that we are committed to fighting all hematological malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

The Society was further moved to implement the name change by a startling rise in lymphoma incidence rates. Statistics from the National Cancer Institute show that from the mid 70s into the 90s, lymphoma rates rose by more than 70 percent, which made it the third fastest rising cancer in the country during that period. Today 454,000 Americans have lymphoma. In 1999 alone an estimated 64,000 new cases were diagnosed. New cases of non-Hodgkin`s lymphoma are rising by 1.1 percent per year while death rates are rising by 1.8 percent each year.

To learn more about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® and it`s mission, Click Here.