About

Some have been running from Diabetes their entire lives.
Others choose to run towards it.

The Diabuddies is a group of well-intentioned, surprisingly attractive, mid-20s people who enter the 2019 Beat the Bridge to Beat Diabetes race with 2 almost-successful ventures under their belt, and they are ready for more. The Beat the Bridge race is renowned in the region for extending its challenge to such diverse demographics. Some groups participate for the T-shirt or the free banana. Others, because fighting diabetes is a cause they care about. But the Diabuddies just hate bridges. Doesn't matter if it's drawbridges, dental bridges, or Jeff Bridges. Please consider supporting these gallivanters in their most trying of times.

The Buddies Themselves

Meet the pigs with the audacity to ask you for your money

Jake Arlan

The Big Diabeasy

Just one or two chocolate chip cookies away from adding Type 2 to the arsenal.

Ryan Branch

Pumpernutter

Remembers he has Type 1 Diabetes somewhere between the first and second bag of potato chips

Aileen Canaria

Diabrunch Addict

Believes life's biggest struggle is eating enough carbs to not hate yourself, but not eating enough carbs to kill you

Katie Tick

The Healthy Buddy

A1C? Better than yours, tough guy.

Tyler Woodring

The Ty Hard

Trying to cure diabetes before it becomes contagious.

Reed Meyers

The Spare Pancreas

Once invented a cure, but with a memory-loss side effect. Wishes he took notes

Max Skugstad

The Pastry Pal

Causing Type 2,
Curing Type 1

WHY

The Beat the Bridge race is a fundraiser promoted by Nordstrom with the goal of finding a cure for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). Approximately 1.25 million Americans suffer from T1D, and while amazing strides have been taken with modern medicine to make managing the disease immeasurably easier for those who suffer from it, there is still no official 'cure'. Still, the progress made so far is inspiring, and the feeling that a cure is just around the corner continues to grow. It's been 10 years away for the last 35 years, but with support there is no doubt that it will actually come.

The Diabuddies themselves feel the impact of T1D very strongly. A small group of college friends that somehow attracted 3 Type 1 Diabetics into their midst. Eventually, they got sick of hearing about people asking them about what they think about cures, what fundraisers they do, etc. and decided to start running the Beat the Bridge to try and make an impact themselves.