Association (ADA) will host its fourth annual Tour de Cure, a hundred mile, three state Tour de France-style bicycle run, on Saturday, Oct. 6.

  Six hundred riders of all athletic abilities are expected to run, walk or ride along 10, 20, 50 or 100-mile routes and join in the effort to raise funds and fight the epidemic of diabetes. The Tour is a ride, not a race, with routes designed for the occasional rider as well as the experienced cyclist.

  Originating and ending at the Shoppes at Pinnacle in Rogers, Ark., the Tour de Cure route winds through the hills of Northwest Arkansas, Northeast Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri.

  The routes are fully supported with rest stops, assist vehicles and volunteers with medical and mechanical skills. At the finish line, participants will be treated to lunch, a massage and live entertainment.

  New this year are the one-mile and five-kilometer walks and the five-kilometer and 13-mile mini-marathon runs. The Tour de Cure incorporates a day-long Health and Wellness Festival -- which includes free health screenings -- and the Little Tikes, Bikes and Trikes Parade for children eleven and younger.

* Run for the money

  Cyclists participating in the ten through one hundred-mile routes are asked to turn in a $125 fund-raising minimum. Donors can submit donations on-line or through their sponsored cyclists. Walkers and runners are not required to raise money. Tour de Cure registration fees are $20 and children under ten are free.

  Last year, the Tour raised $195,000, with awards for the highest fund-raisers going to Bob Paulinski, who individually raised $11,110 and the J.B. Hunt team, which raised $12,411. Awards for the 2007 fund-raisers will be presented at the ADA's Annual Awards Banquet in November.

* Why Ride?

  The ADA's mission is "to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all the people affected by diabetes." If current trends continue, one in three Americans born since 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. Diabetes is the fifth most deadly disease in the U.S.

  Type 1 diabetes usually strikes children and has no known cause, no known preventive measures and no known cure. Until a cure is found, children with type 1 diabetes must take daily injections of insulin to survive. Type 1 diabetes accounts for five to ten percent of all cases.

  Type 2 diabetes has a variety of known causes such as older age, obesity, physical inactivity and genetic factors. While type 2 diabetes can be prevented, after onset, there is no known cure. Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all cases and, due to contemporary lifestyles, is on the rise among young people.

  The prevalence of diabetes has been on the increase for over a decade and has reached epidemic proportions in Arkansas. Today, approximately 300,000 Arkansans suffer from diabetes

  For more information about the Tour de Cure, go to www.diabetes.org/tour or contact the Northwest Arkansas ADA at 479-770-6402.

Famous Diabetics

Halle Berry

Neil Young

Billy Jean King

Johnny Cash

Spencer Tracy

Mikhail Gorbachev

Minnie Pearl

Sugar Ray Robinson

Mae West

Thomas Alva Edison

Howard Hughes

Arthur Ashe

George Lucas

Anne Rice

Jackie Robinson

Mary Tyler Moore

H. G. Wells

Ray Kroc

Joe Fraiser

Waylon Jennings

Catfish Hunter

James Cagney

Menachem Begin

Jackie Gleason

Elvis Presley

Carrol O'Connor

Jerry Lewis

David Crosby

Meatloaf

Jerry Mathers