Candle in the Wind Foundation:
A 501c3 foundation set up to memorialize bicycle racers whose
potential in racing and in life will never be known.
Candle in the Wind
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Memorializing Bicycle Racers whose potential in racing and in life will
never be known.
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Megan Baab: After graduating from
Hurst’s L.D. Bell High School, Baab was about to finish her first
semester at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina, 120 miles
north of Charlotte. The young student was a freshman attending the
college on a cycling scholarship.
“We all remember Megan as a bright and bubbly member of our campus
community,” said college president Barry Buxton in a statement.
Baab was a member of her college cycling team, often training for hours
a day, everyday. Her school reports she competed on the national level
at the USA Cycling National Championship.
“Cycling is in her blood,” her father said, himself an avid cyclist.
“She loved the thrill of riding and having that wind in her hair.”
Before leaving for school, she was a fixture in the Hurst cycling
community. She rode with Team Bicycles Inc. out of Hurst for at least
five years, where she was known as an aggressive athlete who could hold
her own against the male riders.
“She was always out there setting an example,” said her friend James
Ryan, 15, who rode with her in the Texas High School Cycling League.
“For me personally, she was usually what I set my sight on.”
Her father said she had just made Team Kenda, a professional female
cycling team that travels the country to compete in races.
“She was on a trajectory where anything was possible,” said Andrew
Armstrong, director of the Texas High School Cycling League.
Friends and family are planning a memorial ride in Megan Baab’s honor at
10 a.m. on Sunday at the Hurst location of Team Bicycles Inc. (Over 300
attended.)
Megan Baab Memorial Scholarship fund: A
fund of the Candle in the Wind Foundation to help young bicycle racing
women go to college. Every fall a young athlete will selected upon
application based on her ability, sportswomanship and attitude.
Contact me or donate directly
to her fund. (BikeReg has waived all fees associated with donations
to this fund.
Current Donors:
RoadID Offer: Use discount code pcMeganB
and receive 10% off as well as 50% of the revenue generated
by this discount code will go to the Megan Baab Memorial Scholarship.
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Ivan Mukasa:
Those of us who were lucky enough to know
Ivan will always remember him. From his first crit
and its amazing crash to the 2007 season where,
until his death, he was the Texas Bicycle Racing
Association's Junior Open competition leader. But,
it was more than his power on the bike ... it was
his dedication, it was his progress, it was his
promise and his attitude. Exceedingly polite and
shy, every interaction was defined and quiet.
Sleeping on the floor with the other juniors at
Fayetteville his was the smile and quiet voice among
the raucous laughter. Ivan's life was defined by
cycling. From a troubled past and uncertain future,
Ivan's discovery of bicycle racing and its community
(the team, the participants, the shop guys - too
many to list) gave him a new view of life - a view
he worked with and for. Ivan graduated from High
School and made it into the school of his choice -
Midwestern State University. He died two days
before his first class.
He was always on a bike - always.
It was him. A collection of Ivan's trophies will be
on display in Birdville High School. We will race
in his honor, every year. |
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If you're interesting in donating to his fund, which has
been used to help aspiring racers go forward in their life, please
email me,
the foundation director.
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