MUCC hosts spin-a-thon for injured local teen

The Marshall University Cycling Club hosted a spin-a-thon for Daniel Hughes Thursday in the Marshall University Recreation Center lobby.

The event was hosted to raise money for Hughes, a local teen from South Point, Ohio, who was struck by a dump truck in September while riding his bicycle to class on The Ohio State University campus in Columbus.

Corey Clark, Marshall University Cycling Club secretary and community service chair, said the event was designed to bring the cycling community together.

The truck ran over Daniel’s legs and midsection causing severe damage.  Daniel’s right leg had to be amputated and he still faces many more surgeries, while his family faces increasing medical bills.

Clark said it was not difficult to spread the word about the event.

“It wasn’t that hard, there’s a group called ACE, Ashland Cycling Enthusiasts, there’s like 300 members of it so it’s pretty easy to get the word out that way,” Clark said. “And then I created the Facebook page event for this and it just spread like wildfire with everybody sending it out.”

Stephanie Vlahos, a Marshall University Recreation Center spin class teacher said when she heard about the event she wanted to volunteer her time for a worthy cause.

“I thought it was a really good idea when I heard about what happened to Daniel,” Vlahos said. “It was really sad. I’m an avid cyclist and hearing about any kind of accident like that just really frightens me. I just wanted to do what I could to help out.”

The spin-a-thon consisted of three 30-minute classes with a 15-minute break in between each class. Twenty-two seats were available for each class.

“It’s a 10 dollar minimum donation per bike per class,” Clark said. “There’s been 33 people that have pre-registered and we’re expecting a lot of drop-ins now too since they moved it from Studio C out here to the lobby. We’ve had 300 dollars on our PayPal account in donations, that’s not including people actually registering for the classes.”

Sara Allen, 11, from South Point, Ohio, got involved because the cause was very close to her.

“I’m actually friends with the sister of Daniel Hughes and my mom told me about it because she signed up for it and my friend told me I should do it,” Allen said.

Vlahos encouraged participants who enjoyed the spinning to sign up for spinning classes offered by the Marshall University Recreation Center.

Ashley Killingsworth can be contacted at ashley.killingsworth@marshall.edu.