For the second year in a row, Ballard Spahr fielded the top fundraising team for the Susan G. Komen Maryland Promise Ride to support the fight against breast cancer. The 33-member cycling squad was the largest team and raised more than $45,000.

The team, including Ballard Spahr lawyers as well as clients and friends of the firm, joined 160 riders from around the region early on Saturday, June 24, starting in Edgewater, Maryland, for rides of 12 to 67 miles through Anne Arundel  and Calvert Counties.

Ballard Spahr served as a major sponsor of the event. The firm's team topped fundraising for last year's ride as well, raising more than $32,000 in 2016. Members of the firm's team also topped the list of individual fundraisers both years. Donations support vital breast health services such as screening, diagnostic, and treatment services, as well as survivor support and critical breast cancer research.

The cause holds deep personal meaning for members of the Ballard Spahr team. Team Captain Des Connall, a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C., office, rode with his daughter Kristin in honor of his wife, Jane Connall, who passed away three years ago after a six-year battle with breast cancer. Jon Laria, Managing Partner of Ballard Spahr's Baltimore office, lost his mother to breast cancer, and his wife and stepmother are breast cancer survivors.  Several others on the team are breast cancer co-survivors.

"I'm proud of our team's contribution this year to such an important cause," Mr. Connall said, "and I am grateful for the participation of so many clients and friends of the firm on our team."

The Promise Ride marked the second consecutive long-distance weekend for the Ballard Spahr team: the cyclists rode in the Bike MS: Chesapeake Challenge, starting and finishing in Easton, Maryland, on June 17 and 18. That ride benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.