2026 ROYALS Ride For ALS

On September 19, the ROYALS will roll out for the 13th, and final time. Stretching back to 2014    23 riders, of all sizes, have descended the driveway, turned left on Back Rd, and headed off on the 32-mile, mostly dirt route that winds through 5 rural towns, past pond and streams, over hills and down dales. A half dozen others have lent support to the enterprise.  In 12 years the team has raised over $700,000, more than half of that in 2025, due to an anonymous donation of $50,000, and a bequeathment of $350,000.  It has been a great run.

 For the last hurrah, the small band of stalwarts is back together, from near (Dave Brown, of Craftsbury) and far (Robbie Price from Columbia, MO, Will Hodgman out of Park City, Utah, and Susan Gobel, up from New Haven, CT). Ashley Corbin, our dynamic coordinator, now the northern arm of Philadelphia’s ALS Hope Foundation, will work her magic one more time. Until she switches with Susan, Kathy will drive the support vehicle. I plan on keeping her company now and then: new right hip, June 5.  Onward!

My motivation remains unchanged.  Wheeling a van into the main circle of the school to pick up any members of the baseball team who wanted to attend the nearby funeral of Paul Roy senior, father of freshman infielder Paul Roy I saw the whole team, huddled together in a light late-April rain, in coat and tie.  I could not fit them all in. A day student piped up: “Sir, I have my car.”  In a totally illegal move, I said, “I didn’t hear that – 4 of you go with Dave.” And away we went. I had no clue where this road, 27 years ago, would take me, but it led, over time, to Back Road.

And it has led back to Paul Roy, who began riding for ALS in college, and continues the tradition in Melrose, MA.  We are together once again, on a much more expansive playing field – teammates to the end.  Once again, my turquoise helmet will honor the names of those who have, or had ALS: they will ride with us.

It is all so vivid to me.  I can still see the baseball players, bunched in a drizzle on the curb. I can see every one of the twenty-some hardy souls – including son Bart -- who have united in a cause larger than all of us.   And I still can see Nick Potter, my friend of 68 years, speechless but spirited and funny, in the 7th inning of ALS, our last stand before it took him away 4 months later.

I hope you will support the final edition of the ROYALS.

 Geoff Marchant

If you would like to make a donation via check, please mail to:

ALS Hope Foundation North

Attn: Ashley Corbin / ROYALS Ride

PO Box 690345

Quincy, MA 02269