On June 7, over 350 riders gathered in Scottsville for the American Diabetes Association (ADA)’s 2025 Tour de Cure: Finger Lakes Region, collectively raising nearly $300,000 for life-saving research, education, and advocacy to fight diabetes. Riders, volunteers, and ADA staff shared their perspectives during the event.
Paul Koch, rider in both the Capital Region and Finger Lakes Region rides and champion fundraiser, said, “This is my tenth year riding. I’m type two diabetic, and I’m one of those where diet and exercise isn’t changing it. I have it. But really I ride for a cure for those kids who have it. That’s why I fundraise year-round.
“Seeing all the volunteers, the staff, all the planning committees, the people on site who help, you can tell there’s meaning to it. Even though you have teams that may compete and may want to be in the top team, we’re all a team and we’re all here for the same reason.”
Volunteer Shannon O’Donnell said, “I’m here because I’m a type one diabetic. I’ve been a diabetic for 25 years. This is my second year volunteering here. It’s a great way to help get the word out that we need more research, and we need more funding for research. You just get to see how many people are supporting you here; you get to see that you’re not alone in this disease, which can feel really isolating at times, especially because type one diabetes is not super prevalent. Even the people here who aren’t diabetic who are supporting us, that’s just really great to see.”
Volunteer Ryan Buzard added, “I’m type one myself, so I’m here advocating to help find a cure and also improve the lives of other diabetics. I love the community here and meeting other diabetics like myself. You meet a lot of cool people here. I’ve learned a lot about diabetes myself here, so it’s just a way to have fun on a day in June and just get out for the day.”
“Tour is just a really important piece of the way that the ADA reaches the community,” said Ryan Reczek, Northeast Territory Vice President, American Diabetes Association. “We’ve been doing this in some form or fashion across the country for close to 30 years now, and we really see it as a great opportunity, not only to engage the community, but it’s also a great way to practice what we preach.
We’re telling people to be healthy, be well, do things that will help you reduce your chances of getting diabetes, or if you’re living with diabetes, get that physical activity that will help you to better manage and control the disease. And so by offering up an event like this, it gives them that opportunity.
“It’s also, of course, a great fundraiser that helps us to promote and do the work that we do. We’re the leading organization that is focused on all types of diabetes and helping people living with all types of diabetes. The research that we do, the advocacy work that we do, and the education we perform really help lead the way both within the medical community but also in the general community, helping people connect with resources.
“We have opportunities to engage year-round all throughout upstate New York at diabetes.org. And 30 days from now, we are going to open the website for the 2026 Tour de Cure, and so that’s a really easy way for people to jump in and register and get involved.”
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