Cycle for Sight 2026

Cycle for Sight 2026 Continues Through April

This year’s event kicked off on Saturday, March 14th.

2026 is our fifteenth year of Cycle for Sight!  Our kickoff event was on Saturday, March 14th, at the Princeton Club West, where teams and individuals cycled in three spinning sessions and also walked the Club’s track.  You can see photos from the kickoff and other Cycle for Sight events here.

Cycle for Sight continues through April as teams and individuals exercise on their own.  You can register or donate here.

You can participate in Cycle for Sight (or donate!) from anywhere in the world! You can also help by sharing Cycle for Sight on Facebook and X.

Among other things, Cycle for Sight supports the ongoing Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Awards. Research grants are awarded to five early career researchers annually, working on topics including age-related macular degeneration, retinal genome editing, and imaging of the eye. For the specific winners and projects, see here. A variety of other vision research awards are also supported by Cycle for Sight.  It’s important to keep this research moving forward, and we appreciate your help.

Thank you for your dedication to vision research!

AEI teammate from Cycle for Sight 2026

________________________________

Cycle for Sight 2025 Tops $75,000!

Cycle for Sight inched past the $75,000 mark in 2025—once again, an all-time high! We’re grateful to all of our participants and the donors who supported them.

Our Princeton Club spinning sessions on March 15th was followed by various team events outdoors through April. Kenzi’s Team once again led the tally with a remarkable effort that raised almost $40,000 of the total.  As always though, other leading teams did very well. Our major sponsors—Opsis Therapeutics, the Chippewa Valley Eye Clinic, and the Princeton Club—continue to be a great help to the event.

Outdoor exercise through Cycle for Sight has become a regular annual outing for some of our teams, including medical students from UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health, the Isthmus Eye Care team, and multiple McPherson ERI labs.  We encourage everyone to join in and exercise through the spring each year…and to send us pictures!

Cycle for Sight supports vision research grants each year, including the highly-sought-after Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Awards.  Recipients of these grants are noted on a previous page.  To date, 36 trainee scientists (grad students and postdocs) have received Kenzi Valentyn Awards, a wonderful boost to their work and to vision research.

Gamm Lab team at Cycle for Sight 2025
Gamm Lab team at Cycle for Sight 2025

______________________________________________

Cycle for Sight 2024 hits a new high!

Cycle for Sight 2024 raised more than $72,000 through June 2024—an all-time high.

Our Princeton Club spinning sessions on March 16th went very well—no snowstorm this year!  The Gamm Lab team, below, is modeling our new, higher quality fabric shirts (suggested by a Kenzi’s Team member).  Kenzi’s Team once again took the lead in fundraising, with other teams doing very well indeed.  Blind Take Off was just shy of $10,000, an all-time high for that amazing team!  Teams that exercised elsewhere in April included med students from UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health, the Isthmus Eye Care team, Delta Gamma, and multiple McPherson ERI labs.  Bonus points to Dr. Karen Schloss’s lab, which on a rainy day exercised by “hiking” through the Chazen Museum.

We’re very grateful that our major sponsors continue to support the event, so thank you to Opsis Therapeutics, the Chippewa Valley Eye Clinic, and the Princeton Club.

Cycle for Sight will again support vision research grants this year, including Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Awards.  We’ve been able to add more research awards every year because of your support.

Pictures from this year’s ride are hereThank you, and we look forward to exercising with you again in 2025!

Gamm Lab team, Cycle for Sight 2024
Gamm Lab team at Cycle for Sight 2024

Cycle for Sight 2023 Update

Valentyn team, Cycle for Sight 2023
Kenzi’s Team, Cycle for Sight 2023

 

 

Cycle for Sight 2023 surpasses last year’s total!

Cycle for Sight 2023, the McPherson Eye Research Institute’s annual fundraiser, raised $64,102 this year.  Teams participated both at our kickoff event on March 25th at the Princeton Club (which went very well in spite of a snowstorm!), and in the community.

As always, you can continue to donate to Cycle for Sight from anywhere in the world!  

Cycle for Sight supports the Kenzi Valentyn Vision Research Awards, whose 2023 recipients were announced recently.  Also, check out our 2022 annual report to read about McPherson ERI research highlights from the past year.

We’re very grateful to our sponsors, Opsis Therapeutics and the Princeton Club!

And check out our pictures from Cycle for Sight 2023!

 Donate button cycle for sight

****************************************

Thank you for making Cycle for Sight 2022 a success!

The McPherson ERI’s annual research fundraiser was once again driven by teams that exercised outdoors – walking, running, and cycling for sight around the state and the country. Kenzi’s Team led a walk around the Wisconsin State Capitol on Sunday, May 1st; the team reached a new high in fundraising this year. Thank you to all who participated, donated, and sponsored the event! Check out the pictures!

Kenzi's Team at Capitol walk, 2022
Kenzi’s Team Walks at the Capitol, 2022

Previous Cycle for Sight Photos and News

Photos

2022    2021    2020    2019

2018   2017    2016   2015

2023 Cycle for Sight Major Sponsors

Opsis logo

Princeton Club Logo

Cycle for Sight raises funds to support research to prevent, treat and cure blinding diseases.