Pelotonia 2025: Highlights of Ride Weekend in Columbus, Ohio
Pelotonia brought her energy to Columbus and spent the weekend in 2025. Observe the highest moments of the unforgettable cycling that support cancer research.
- Ohio State student Matthew Marquardt balances training for professional triathlons.
- Marquardt recently won the Ironman Pro series at Lake Placid, New York.
- Marquardt's main focus remains his medical training, aiming to pursue a career as a head and neck cancer surgeon.
Like other students at Ohio State University School of Medicine, Matthew Marquardt spent hours studying, medical spins, courses and research.
Unlike other students, he also spent hours in the morning and evening training professional triathlons.
Marquardt rode on his fourth Pelotonia weekend, captained by a group of medical students who crossed the spin doctor and crossed the finish line of the Ironman Pro series race at Lake Placid, New York.
He won.
For many, what Marquardt achieved is like a dream.
He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro when the Cincinnati native was still in high school. When he was on a bike ride around the country from San Diego to Jacksonville, Florida, when he was on an unexpected break when he swam at Princeton University during the 199th pandemic.
Apart from achieving seemingly impossible tendencies, a common thread runs on Marquardt’s journey – he also uses his own feat of movement to raise funds and awareness of cancer patients and research.
It all started when he was training to climb the Kilimanjaro Mountains, when a childhood friend of his was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (All), blood cancer.
“When I was training, I watched her go through this treatment, too,” Marquette said.
“I decided, ‘You know what? I wanted to try to raise some money for the organization she chose so that she would have some other ideas in addition to treatment.” So we decided to raise more than $6,000 in funding for willingness and through a variety of different fundraising activities. ”
A few years later, during a 20-day trip on a bike ride, Marquardt raised over $15,500 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Pursuing passion and purpose
He attributes the journey to his career as an endurance athlete.
“I'm in the advanced spring right now, I'm always looking for other things to do and decided to train half of the Iron Man so that I'll be busy graduating,” he explained.
“At the time, my plan was just to have a game and it was done because I went to medical school in the fall of 2021 and no ordinary person thought it was impossible to go to triathlon and medical school at the same time.”
After obtaining permission from the dean of the James Cancer Hospital School of Medicine and Sponsorship College, Marquardt now represents James in every major Ironman event.
David Cohn, chief operating officer of James Cancer Hospital, said he promoted the importance of cancer research and prevention as part of his sponsorship through Ohio State University.
Cohn noted that Marquardt manages complex life on a special level in every way, saying he was moved by a conversation with the triathletes after his July victory at Lake Placid.
“The most influential thing in the whole experience, he said, the competition, the challenges during the game – being able to provide his colleagues and friends with the finish line of medals when they become Iron Man,” Cohen said.
“This shows his humanity.”
Cohn not only explains Marquardt's annual participation as a rider, but his placement in a Pelotonia-funded cancer research lab tied all threads together.
As a rider, students and athletes have raised $26,043 for Pelotonia as of early August 2025.
“This is the main thing that drives me: to make someone's life better,” Marquette said.
“Is this what drives my research to improve cancer care or what drives me to study in medical school…and that also put me in (a) triathlon.”
The medical student noted that his medical training continues to be his top priority and he hopes to ensure that the ears, nose and throat reside in preparation for future head and neck cancer surgeons.
“Obviously, I want to be successful, I'm motivated to succeed, but I'm not the great thing about staying up late to win the game at night, my focus has always been my focus and will always be on my research and medical school first,” he said.
This article is made possible by the support of the Columbus Foundation’s Human Center, which works with the Columbus dispatch to introduce those places that make our community a better place. Help us inspire kindness by giving advice to journalist Sophia Veneziano. She can be contacted at sveneziano@dispatch.com. Learn more at dispatch.com/kindness. Scheduling retains complete editorial independence for all content.