Dr. Randall Merchant

Dr. Merchant has generously shared his knowledge about establishing a foundation at the Medical College of Virginia, and has helped to seed the fund.

 Maksim Kalashnikov

Maksim led a similar fundraising event in the summer of 2007 after he graduated from Harvard Business School.  Way to go Maksim!

They pedaled all the way across the middle of America on US Highway 50 from New York to San Francisco.  That's 3,699 miles / 5,952 km (199 miles longer than estimated) across 17 states (one more than anticipated), including Kentucky. It took 53 days.

Read all about his adventure at bikecoasttocoast.org.

 Dr. Douglas Gardner

Dr. Gardner was a close friend of Jim Popp as an undergraduate at the University of Richmond.  They were roommates during their Junior year and were both pre-med.  He is a pediatrician in Winston-Salem, NC, having gone to the University of Virginia Med School, then the University of Utah for his residency.  Since he is also a fan of bike riding, it has been a goal of his to ride across the country with his five boys.  Perhaps he will carry on the tradition in its second incarnation next year.

Stan Reents

Jim and Stan were close friends and frequent tennis partners.  They first met when Jim came to
Gainesville for his internship, residency, and fellowship.  After Jim moved from Gainesville, they stayed in contact and would attend the Bausch & Lomb tennis tournament every April in Amelia Island.

Stan has developed the web site "www.AthleteInMe.com".  This site's mission is to promote health by encouraging regular exercise, and is designed for people who need a "go to" web site for quality, unbiased, credible information on exercise, fitness, and wellness topics.