Alum Rides 100 Miles for ETHS

Distance biker and Evanston Township High School alum Mark Shore will be riding the North Shore Century Sunday in support of his alma mater.  The 100-mile ride will be the first of what he hopes will be an annual tradition to raise money for the ETHS Educational Foundation.

"It's all part of my community spirit," said Shore, who has participated in charity rides throughout the country.  "There's a history of me just enjoying riding and at the same time giving back and making it a very worthy cause."

Shore said he has been training for the ride by going up and down the lakefront, which he said is challenging given the city's notorious high winds that blow in both directions.

The North Shore Century ride will start and end at the Evanston high school campus and go up through Kenosha and back.  Although Shore rides long distances all the time, including about 2200 miles total this season alone, he said he is particularly motivated to ride for a good cause.

"It kind of becomes like a quest where you can't give up, you just have to finish," he said.  "I'm ultimately riding for the school and the students, so it's a very good, worthy cause."

This ride hits close to home for Shore, who recently became a board member of the ETHS Educational Foundation.  He said he is proud to support ETHS, because the school prepared him well for college and his career in finance.

"That's the reason for me to do this," he said, "The school offered so many different electives, by the time I got to college some of my classmates were taking classes I'd already taken in high school.  I realized after I graduated that [ETHS] gave me a lot of opportunities that a lot of schools can't offer to their students."