Southbury Survivor Riding For Cancer Relief

It had been a year after his recovery from prostate cancer that Chris Hayner first saw a sign for the Connecticut Challenge.

It was 2006.  He'd just started getting back into biking, and was riding through a heavy, pouring rain with some friends when he happened across some flyers in Southbury, where he lives.  When he found out what it was, he knew he had to participate.

The Connecticut Challenge is an annual bike tour across the state that raises funds for cancer survivorship clinics.  Now in its fifth year, the tour will take place Saturday, and its 100 mile and 75 mile courses will pass through Southbury.

Hayner was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of 2005 at the age of 55.  He said that hearing the news was earth-shattering.  But he was fortunate enough to receive surgery that left him in good health at the Yale medical center — a hospital that was the challenge's first, main funding recipient.

Now, the challenge donates money to a number of survivorship clinics such as Yale, St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport and the Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.

Because cancer survivors are susceptible to further medical or psychological problems, these clinics are helpful in monitoring and maintaining a patient's health post-recovery.

Chris will be one of about 40 cancer survivors participating in the challenge this year, according to Tom Chiappetta, a representative for the organization.

Hayner says that he estimates to have personally raised around $11,000, but that the team he rides — team chemtura, named after the company its members work for — with has collectively raised more than twice that amount this year.

"This year, the goal for the team was $5,000, but we're having a hard time getting people to sign up," said Hayner.  "Last year, we had five on the team, this year we're down to three."

The challenge is comprised of five courses of varying difficulty.  The easiest is 12-miles long, the next is 25-miles, then 50-miles, 75-miles and 100-miles.

Hayner, who is 60, has participated in the 100-mile course every year since 2007.

"Our team takes about seven to eight hours [to finish],"  he said.  "You get some of the younger teams like the Yale Bulldogs who'll do it in four or less."

He said to prepare, he does strength training in the gym four or five days out of the week, then rides 40 to 60 miles each day of the weekend, mostly in the hills in Litchfield — the toughest part of the course.

"It just takes a lot of training, that's all," he said.  "If I can do it, anybody can do it."

Helping out does not just mean riding.  Hayner's wife Naomi will be volunteering at a Southbury rider aid station for the first time.  She will be there to make sure riders who stop have enough food or liquids.

Naomi Hayner, 58, doesn't ride in the tour, but felt it was her place to help after a close friend of hers died after a 15-year fight agains multiple myeloma and her mother was also diagnosed with Uteran cancer, from which she would recover.

"It's quite a worthwhile cause," she said.  "We've all known either personally or others who have had to deal with cancer and a lot more people who are living with cancer, so these survivorship clinics are great."

According to its website, The Connecticut Challenge was started by cyclist and business entrepreneur John Ragland and longtime cancer fundraiser Jeff Keith, who also founded the non-profits Swim for America and Swim Across the Sound.

Keith was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 12.  During treatment, doctors amputated his right leg.  Years later, in 2005, after being impressed by a visit to a Boston pediatric cancer survivorship clinic, Keith became determined to bring similar clinics to Connecticut and partnered with Ragland to raise the funds for a Yale clinic.

According to the group's website, they have raised over $3 million since their founding, primarily from the challenge bike tour, which according to their most recently available tax forms, has raised around $600,000 to $800,000 in donations each year, depending on the year.

Information on how to donate or volunteer can be found on the Connecticut Challenge website.