PHOENIX -

Forty cyclists, supported by Cox Enterprises’ Arizona-based Ready Auto Transport, completed a 430-mile bike ride, the Ride 430 Challenge, and raised more than $430,000 for injured military service members and their families.

As the lead sponsor, Ready Auto Transport helped cover expenses for the event, including hosting the opening ceremony, providing support for riders along the route, while members of Cox Enterprises also contributed through a donation of $68,000.

The bike ride itself, which covered 430 miles over the course of four days, finished at the Commemorative Air Museum in Mesa, Ariz. Riders began and finished each leg of the race together, mirroring the various military creeds of never leaving a comrade behind.  

John Greenway, the founder of the Ride 430 Challenge, spoke about how the participants are simply ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help those that sacrifice for their country.

“To see this team’s dedication to the cause is inspiring,” Greenway said. “The average charitable bike ride brings in about $12,000, and the average rider raises just $187.”

The funds raised by the challenge go to support a wide array of items, from financial assistance and scholarships to adaptive sports equipment and camps for children who have lost a parent in combat, according to the campaign. Beneficiaries for the funds raised are the MARSOC Foundation, the Knights of Heroes Foundation, and Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors.

“More than 320,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan have come home with a traumatic brain injury, and 11 percent of them have endured an amputation,” Greenway said. “With these kinds of injuries, and the ongoing challenges faced by families of fallen soldiers, the needs will continue long after the conflicts have ended. So, we ride to give American heroes and their families hope and assistance as they travel the road to recovery.”