Illini 4000 hits home for SHS student
By SAM RINK
When Izzy Perpich committed to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2021, they were self-admittedly unenthusiastic about attending. However, in their search for points of interest on campus, they discovered a registered student organization that just happened to sit perfectly at the intersection of two of their passions: healthcare and cycling.
Illini 4000, or I4K, started as a theoretical conversation between two Illinois students in 2007 and has since become a massive annual fundraising drive that has raised more than $1.3 million since the first ride more than 15 years ago. I4K is an entirely student-founded and led non-profit focused on raising money and awareness for cancer research through an annual cross-country bike ride.
“It’s definitely something that hits close to home,” Perpich said, recalling their own family members’ battles with different kinds of cancer. “It looked inspiring, beautiful and I just thought, ‘Wow, I really want to be there. I really want to be a part of this.’”
The ride leaves from New York City on May 27 and ends as the team of 18 students crosses the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Aug. 10, covering 4,000 miles through 21 states over 11 weeks. Riders sleep at pre-arranged stops at YMCAs, churches, and campsites, eat the same utilitarian meals (oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and lentils or pasta for dinner), and cover 70 miles on average every day. The experience requires discipline and months of training, but the students who participate have good reasons for doing so.
For Perpich, their inspiration to join the ride came from a few places, but their love of cycling began in their hometown of Chicago, riding the lakefront trail and even becoming a cycling instructor as their very first job. Perpich’s personal experiences with cancer also informed their decision to join I4K.
“I’ve definitely been impacted by cancer in my immediate and extended family,” they said. “Being able to do something so big to help people and also fundraise to serve people and make a real difference is something I was like: ‘Yeah I can’t say no to this.’”
Perpich also discussed their passion for uplifting underrepresented voices in healthcare, a passion which led them to studying in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the College of Applied Health Sciences. They shared some of their experiences working on public health projects with resource centers on campus, saying “a lot of it is like the intersection of queer identities, sexual health and making sure all people have a space and a voice, and that goes for any type of healthcare.”
Perpich said their time in public health made them feel satisfied that “fundraising through Illini 4000 is going directly to different beneficiaries that we [I4K] have spoken to firsthand and knowing that their mission is to improve the experiences of people regardless of their identity, orientation, or any other factors like that.”
Perpich’s goals to better represent the underprivileged in healthcare were another part of their decision to join I4K, which doesn’t only focus on their yearly ride and fundraising. The group also collects and manages a gallery of stories of people who have or still are battling cancer called The Portraits Project. Members interview cancer patients, survivors, and families of those who have died from cancer and document their stories to be posted on their website where anyone can read them.
“It’s been really moving to hear firsthand some of the experiences,” Perpich said. “Often the people we speak with have so much to share and it can really bring you to tears.”
The training regimen for a 4,000-mile bike ride is as intense as one might expect, starting in the fall semester with weekly running and calisthenics training before cycling officially begins in March. The cyclists ride up to 90 miles in one training session, training in all conditions and terrains.
“It was a lot of fun ascending and descending on the massive hills at Kickapoo [State Park]—that’s where we just did training for switching gears and learning how to flutter our breaks so that we could learn how to do that for more hilly areas in the country.”
Long-distance exercise requires both physical and mental fortitude, but Perpich said the close-knit nature of the team makes the long rides manageable.
“It’s really special when you can bond with another person on your team and ride next to people, because when you’re talking it honestly feels like the time just flies by,” they said. “I feel like it’s just more of those human connection conversations that allow for the easiest and best experiences with a long-distance ride.”
Illini 4000 is not only an emotionally intimate experience for its members, but also an inspiring one. When an entirely student-run group can raise as much money as I4K has, it has an immense impact on the participants as well as the recipients, which Perpich reflected on.
“It’s really empowering for us just to know that, as students we can have such a huge impact,” they said. “We have power as students. We are members of society that are capable of making massive change.”