The 9th Annual 2003 Positive Spin for ALS™... a convergence of two successful events. In 2003 it will be held on Sunday, May 18. Read more about this year's ride.

History of the Event

Paul Tamburello

A Positive Spin for ALS: 1995-2001

From 1995 until 2001, Paul Tamburello's Positive Spin for ALS, his annual 86 mile "solo" bike ride from Plymouth Rock to Provincetown, MA, raised $204,300 for the ALS cause.

In 2001, his final "solo" Positive Spin for ALS received over 400 contributions and raised $46,000. Since 1997, Paul has packed the names of 'Honorary Riders', names of past and present ALS patients sent him by their families and friends, in his bike bag. In the 2001 annual roll call ceremony in Provincetown, Paul read the names of 140 Honorary Riders. "I'll keep asking for Honorary Riders in the new Positive Spin for ALS," he says. "I've been honored to carry some of their names since 1997."

A veteran fourth grade teacher in Brookline, MA, Paul became aware of ALS when he was diagnosed in 1993 with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a non fatal neuromuscular disease. He considers the Positive Spin for ALS to be "good medicine" for himself. Paul and Steve Austin (see below) are the co chairs of the 2003 event.

RideforALS 2001

Myke Farricker, Steve Austin, Debbie Duncombe, Barbare Soerheide, and Jessica Hodge

In February, 2001, Steve Austin, Jessica Hodge, Deborah Duncombe, and Barbara Soerheide formed the RideforALS in honor of Barbara's husband, George, who had just passed away following a five-year battle with ALS.

As their planning progressed, they found many connections with ALS through friends and the biking community. When Myke Farricker read about George Soerheide in a Boston Globe article, he mentioned to Steve that his brother Pete Farricker was also stricken with ALS. Steve invited Myke, who is the General Manager and one of the owners of The Longfellow Club, a tennis and fitness club in Wayland, MA, to join their planning committee. Myke offered the club as the site for the ride and the stage was set for their fundraising ride.

They agreed that the ride would honor these two great people, George Soerheide and Pete Farricker, as well as another man known by the committee: Scott Carlson, a triathlete and former teammate of Karen Smyers, the world class Ironman Triathalon champion. In August, 2001, the Longfellow Club generously hosted the event, which attracted 200 cyclists and raised nearly $40,000.

The two rides converge: A Positive Spin for ALS in 2002

For 2002, the two fund raising bike rides decided to join forces to become one powerful event. Hosted again by the Longfellow Club in Wayland, it attracted 300 riders and raised $121,000 for patient care and ALS research.

Steve Austin, Jessica Hodge, Debbie Duncombe, Myke Farricker, Barbara Soerheide (who designed the dynamic logo for the new event), Dan and Judy Clawson, and Mary Shane worked with Rick Arrowood and Paul Tamburello of the ALS Association MA Chapter as a core committee to organize the event.

The scope of the event grew when one of the 2002 routes was named in honor of Ken Melanson a friend of the RideforALS community. Ken's brother Keith was the lead rider and a major fund raiser in 2002. Keith Melanson will lead the 2003 version of "Ken's Ride".

The 9th Annual Positive Spin for ALS will feature four rides: George's Ride: 10 Miles; Pete's Ride: 25 Miles; Ken's Ride: 50 Miles; and Scott's Ride: 100 Miles. The rides will begin and end at the Longfellow Club on the Boston Post Road in Wayland, MA. Once again, the funds raised by the Positive Spin for ALS will used to benefit ALS patients locally and research nationally.

George Soerheide, Pete Farricker, Ken Melanson, and Scott Carlson represent thousands of men and women who have had to battle this grim disease. Their stories, and the stories of scores of other ALS patients, put this fund raiser into gear.

A Positive Spin for ALS in 2003

The Positive Spin's core group of volunteer coordinators has a wide range of backgrounds: co-chair Steve Austin (owner and manager of Easy Motions health club in Natick, MA), co chair Paul Tamburello (Brookline, MA elementary school teacher), Myke Farricker (co-owner of The Longfellow Sports Clubs in Natick and Wayland, MA), Dan Clawson (Advanced Lighting and Production Services of Randolph, MA), Judy Clawson (Toth Brand Imaging of Concord, MA), Deborah Duncombe (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), Jessica Hodge (Framingham State University professor), Michael Frizzell (Toth Brand Imaging of Concord, MA), Denise Nolan (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), Barbara Soerheide (Framingham, MA artist), and Rick Arrowood (Executive Director, ALS Association, MA Chapter).

All of them are looking forward to a successful Positive Spin for ALS on May 18, 2003.