LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — A Lancaster County-based endurance cycling Team embraces a grueling journey across the country, all in an effort to end child trafficking.
The ZOE Race Across America (RAAM) Cycling Team is made up of eight ordinary central Pennsylvania cyclists and more than a dozen crew members, who task themselves with completing one of the longest endurance events in the world for a cause much greater than themselves.
"This is all really to be a megaphone to point people to child trafficking," said Brad Ortenzi, the general manager for the ZOE RAAM Team, and the eastern regional director for ZOE USA. "When people hear you're doing something crazy on a bike, it grabs their attention."
"I say ordinary people can do extraordinary things," said Tom Jordan, a rider on the ZOE RAAM Team. "What moved me throughout this whole process [is that] it has every element of chaos that you can imagine. The difference is the [riders] hearts and passions are for these children."
The annual race begins on the west coast and takes its competing riders across the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The ZOE RAAM Team competed in the 8-man-relay team category in 2019, 2021 and 2023, finishing third, first and second respectively.
However, they're much prouder of something else. They have raised more than $1 million in that span for ZOE, an anti-trafficking organization and the coordinating agency for the Lancaster County Human Trafficking Task Force.
"What I learned very quickly is it really was not about the bike race, it was about that one lost soul with no hope, stuck in a hotel room, wondering how they're ever going to find their freedom again," said Jordan. "We have an expression that their freedom is our fuel. It was really what motivated us."
A reflection of that motivation can be found written on each of the rider's arms during the race. Each team member writes the name of a child-trafficking victim that ZOE has helped, and reminds them the pain they may experience during their 3,000-mile journey is a small price to pay for the children in their very own Central Pennsylvania communities that are experiencing much worse.
"When you're in the middle of Kansas and you're hitting a 35mph wind in your face, and it's 95% humidity, it feels like a blast furnace. But then you look down at your arm and you see that name. We each got unique names, and we got the stories. It motivated you," said Craig Whiteford, a rider for the ZOE RAAM Team. "You started praying for that person, and it took your mind off of what you were doing and where you were and how the conditions were and what the challenge was. It really gave you fuel."
The idea to enter such an extreme race began with Ortenzi. He is a retired Ephrata detective who worked in anti-child trafficking and now works with ZOE as its USA Eastern Regional Director.
Ortenzi and his wife first did their own endurance ride from Virginia to California to raise funds for the organization. Then the idea came to enter RAAM. Many people would assume the challenge of finding seven other riders willing to compete in the grueling race. However, for Ortenzi this was not the case, in large part due to the 'why' behind the seemingly daunting cross-country journey.
"Surprisingly enough, the first seven guys that I asked all said yes. These guys were in it and we love a challenge," said Ortenzi. "This all boils down to what is our why. It's for kids. That makes it a bit easier to put stuff aside and to sacrifice for the kids. That's a pretty easy sell."
However, it's not just the riders themselves who are putting all they can towards the cause. The team is backed by more than a dozen crew members, including Crew Chief Allen Fisher, who helps with logistics.
Without them, the riders say none of it would be possible.
"We're doing the cycling [and] there's times where I think that's the easy part because there's so many logistics," said Matt Lapp, a co-captain of the ZOE RAAM Team. "There's so many people sacrificing behind the scenes that make this a reality."
So whether it was as a rider or crew member, they say the journey- in addition to the level of gratification- once they cross that East Coast finish line is unlike any other feeling.
"To fly to California, going through that bonding experience together, you create a brotherhood that is hard to duplicate in today's society. It's a special opportunity that we get to take part in," said Nate Eakin, a co-captain of the ZOE RAAM Team. "Getting to the finish line and seeing your family's faces welcoming you home is such a good feeling, just euphoria."
Three successful races later and over one million dollars raised, the team is now training for its next RAAM in 2025 in hopes of shattering the fundraising records they have already broken.
For some, the thought of hopping on a bike and going on a 3,000-mile journey across the country, let alone a second or third time, is hard to fathom.
However, for this bunch, motivated by a cause much greater than themselves, it’s an easy yes, and they have no plans of stopping.
"This is a hunger that's not going away. The bigger this gets, the more people learn about child trafficking," said Ortenzi. "[This] is a group of people feeding off each other for this passion [and] we just want to keep going."
For more information on the ZOE RAAM Team, how to donate or to learn more about child trafficking in Pennsylvania head to their website.