3000 MILES TO A CURE RECEIVES GOOGLE GRANT By Vic Armijo When UltraCyclist Maria Parker’s sister Jenny Mulligan was diagnosed with stage-four brain cancer in October 2012 Parker responded by creating the foundation “3,000 Miles to a Cure” and entering last year’s Race Across America as a platform to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for brain cancer with a fund-raising goal of $1 million to go to ABC2, a brain cancer research organization Parker’s 2013 RAAM was a nearly unbelievable come-back story. Her follow car was rear-ended in Arizona, destroying the car and her back-up bikes, yet even after having stopped for a day Parker and her crew regrouped and she was the first woman to reach the finish. This year Jacquie Schlitter rode for 3,000 Miles to a Cure and while Schlitter did not finish, her efforts helped bring the total funds raised so far to $130,000. Sadly Mulligan passed away on June 19 during RAAM 2014. But the continuing effort got a major boost last week when it was announced that Google has named 3000 Miles to a Cure as one of only five organizations it has chosen to each receive a cash grant of $25,000 and their $1,500 “Google Glass” computer interface eyewear that Google describes as a “wearable computer.” Parker explained the plan for using Google’s new product, “We saw the grant application and one of my board members said, ‘Remember during RAAM and you were riding along and we’d read you the encouragement on the Facebook posts and how motivating you said it was? We could take that a step further with Google Glass to have more direct interaction between the donors and the athletes. The donors and fans could see exactly what the rider is seeing and the rider could see the messages and Facebook posts in real time.’ So we applied for the grant based on that idea, and we got it!” Parker also envisions using Google Glass as a tool toward fund-raising, “We could attach mile markers to fund raising goals, which on the one hand would raise money for the chosen causes, but on the other it helps motivate the rider because the rider gets to the next mile marker and sees what was raised. ‘For ‘X’ dollars you can ride down the Glass Elevator with me, or whatever. All that is in development but the Google people are excited.” Parker will race in Sepembers Tejaz Time Trial where the Google Glass interface will get its first on-the-bike test of the apps being designed for them. This test is a lead-up to their being used in RAAM 2015, which raises the question of just who will be wearing them. “We’ll certainly have a rider but we don’t yet know who.” Congratulations to Maria Parker and 3,000 Miles to a Cure for their continued great work and for having their cause recognized and rewarded by one of the world’s biggest businesses.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0000
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