About 100 students from the Baptist Collegiate Ministry rode bicycles to Jacksonville, Fla., Wednesday.

They biked the 283 miles to raise money to send students on all-expense paid mission trips for the summer.

The event, called Ride for Christ, ended in Jacksonville, where the participants watched the Georgia-Florida football game before heading back to Athens Sunday.

Half of the participants biked the entire length. The other half had partners that alternated between riding and encouraging from a car.

“This year, we have 108 people going on Ride for Christ, including students and alumni,” said event coordinator Allison Cox in an e-mail prior to the ride.

“Ride for Christ began eight years ago when our recreation team was looking for a fun way they could help the BCM raise money for Collegiate Summer Missions,” said Nathan Byrd, one of the campus ministers at the University’s Baptist Collegiate Ministry, in an e-mail.

“Several students were avid cyclists and took up the challenge offered by Rhonda Abott, one of our campus ministers at that time, to bike to the Georgia-Florida game,” he explained.

Byrd said last summer, the University Baptist Collegiate Ministry sent about 30 students abroad with the money raised from Ride For Christ. He said they hope to send more student missionaries this year.

Participants spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in the homes of sponsoring church members and biked during the day.

Lindsay Isbell, a senior that participated in the trip the last three years, said the beginning of the ride- – from Athens to Sparta – is the hardest because of the number of hills. She said after that section, the route gets easier.

Isbell said the ride is a good bonding experience for the group because it gives the opportunity to ride alongside different people and talk to and encourage other riders.

This event has taken place for eight years, but this year’s was the final trip due to a shorter fall break next year.

“As you can imagine, traveling almost 300 miles on bicycles takes awhile,” Byrd explained. “There is no way to manage it with only one day off from classes. As a student organization, we don’t feel like we can ask students to skip classes to go.”

“The UGA BCM raises more than any other campus for the statewide collegiate missions effort. This is by far the biggest fundraiser in the state,” he said. “We are hoping we can come up with a plan that will raise as much money. We are thinking about a mountain bike version of Ride for Christ somewhere locally.”

Isbell said the participants raised money by asking businesses and family friends for donations.

Byrd said each participant is asked to raise $400, and the group has raised up to $30,000.

The figures for this year’s Ride for Christ were not available as of press time because donations are still arriving.