NEWS

Durham teen bikes 225 miles to raise money for NAACP

Hadley Barndollar
Just two days after his graduation from Oyster River High School, 17-year-old Luca Haines biked nearly 230 miles from the Canadian border through New Hampshire to raise money for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

DURHAM – Just two days after his graduation from Oyster River High School, 17-year-old Luca Haines biked nearly 230 miles from the Canadian border through New Hampshire to raise money for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

His effort has since raised more than $5,000.

It was a “border to the beach” venture that on Monday burned Haines 8,500 calories while bringing attention to the national movement spurred by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“We showed up to protests and we wanted to do more,” said Haines, of Durham. “Just showing up to a protest and showing your support in-person for this whole movement is awesome, but a lot of people were like, ’How can I help this cause at a more national level?’”

Haines said the 230-mile ride was something he’d been planning to do for a while, “and this was the perfect scenario to do something positive to help this movement.”

Haines began cycling at age 13 and is now a competitive cyclist with a team called New England Development – based out of Massachusetts – where he does road racing and cyclo-cross. Last year, he was ranked 49th in the world for under age 18 cyclo-cross.

Haines began his ride around 5 a.m. on Monday at the Canadian border, passing through Dixville Notch and communities like Errol and Conway. His destination was the Seabrook/Salisbury, Massachusetts, state line.

Haines shared his route online with the public through “Ride with GPS.”

Along the way he had two cycling friends join him at different points – Darren Piotrow of Jackson, and Henry Lord of Kittery, Maine.

“Once I hit Farmington, I was like, ’Sweet, these are all roads I know super well,” Haines said. “I felt like I was flying.”

At 6:25 p.m. Monday, Haines arrived at his destination – 225 miles and 12 hours later.

In the fall, Haines will head to Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, where he’s set to race cyclo-cross competitively.

GoFundMe page: bit.ly/2YNr3Ty

Luca Haines, at right, and his friend Darren Piotrow during Monday's "border to beach" bike ride.