COLUMBUS – Pelotonia is about to make it easier for people to raise money for cancer research—on your own time, at your own pace and from virtually anywhere—and you may not even need cycling shorts or your checkbook.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
With a new smartphone app Pelotonia is launching Friday, called PULLL, users can earn funds for cancer research for each mile they bicycle, run or walk.
Pelotonia 10th Anniversary Ride Weekend is scheduled for August 3-5.
Pelotonia sponsors have committed to donating certain funds for each mile that app users log. Each activity will have a daily earn rate, which will differ depending on that day’s sponsor. Users also can choose to share their exercise on social media and invite friends to “boost” the funds they raised through “microdonations” as low as $1.
Miguel Perez, vice president of mission and brand for Pelotonia, explains how the new app works:
Pelotonia, which raises money for cancer research at Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center through an annual three-day cycling ride, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. The event has raised more than $157 million for cancer research since its inception.
But the new app goes beyond the yearly ride.
With PULLL, Pelotonia leaders sought to “build a larger community to get behind this one goal and really make a bigger impact,” said Miguel Perez, vice president of mission and brand for Pelotonia.
The name for the app comes from the cycling world, where pulling refers to the role of the first rider in a group who helps block the wind for others and leads the way, Perez said.
And the extra L? That’s a reminder to always look for more, Perez said.
“We’re always looking for that one more donor, one more rider, one more mile, one more breakthrough, one more cure, one more researcher, one more creative idea to get us closer to the cancer-free world,” he said.