Click here to view a slideshow from the race.

Saturday's Great American Bike Race was not the place to go to stand out. Among the stationary bikes, balloons and banners in the Bismarck State College Armory, thousands of people gathered to raise money to help patients with cerebral palsy and their families.

But Hunter Berreth and his team, Hunter's Roughriders 2007, still found a way to stick out from the crowd. In the fluorescent green T-shirts and baseball caps Hunter picked out for them, his team was hard to miss.

Sharon Kocourek, Hunter's aunt, said the team raised $4,220 for cerebral palsy. The event is one close to Hunter's family's heart because the disability keeps the Steele-Dawson third-grader in a wheelchair most of the time.

Hunter can walk with a walker, but not for long, Kocourek said.

"For him to go 200 steps is like for us to go one mile," she said.

Hunter's friends and family put together the team for the 11th annual Great American Bike Race, as they have since Hunter was a GABR All-Star as a kindergartner. Hunter's Roughriders 2007 was one of 89 teams in the race.

Each of the 89 teams had 10 riders who rode for 25 minutes on a stationary bike. Each rider had to raise at least $50 to participate. Paper fans featuring photographs of this year's GABR All-Stars - 15-year-old Mitchell Hintz, of Dickinson, and 15-year-old Al Stavig, of Bismarck - were available to help cool down riders in the hot gym.

Some teams were ready for competition, while others, like the Bismarck Tribune's Paper Pedalers, were just in it for fun.

Race director Bruce Klootwyk said 52 teams rode in last year's race, and the 2006 event raised $117,000. Though the total amount of money raised Saturday hadn't been compiled by the race's end, Klootwyk said just the third heat of riders, of 10 heats, raised $16,000.

"I'm hopeful that we'll raise more today" than last year, Klootwyk said.

Jason Lachenmeier, of the team Mitch's Mighty Dickinson Riders, was the event's top money-raiser, with $13,920, Klootwyk said. He said Lachenmeier, who was paralyzed by a car wreck, was surprised with a new wheelchair from Medequip One for his efforts.

Mitch's Mighty Dickinson Riders was the top money-raising team, Klootwyk said.

Teams were put on either Schwin or Lemond stationary bikes during the race. Holly Miller, of Cranks, was the winner for Schwinn riders, with 14.25 miles, and teammate Dave Burns was close behind with 14.07 miles. James Hellman, of Tesoro, rode the longest on a Lemond bike, with 13.4 miles. His teammate, Brad Hellman, took second with 13.02 miles.

Mountain Bike Group took first for teams on Schwinn bikes, riding 133 miles between the 10 riders, and Cranks followed with 132.61 miles. YMCA Early AM took first for teams on Lemond bikes, with 94.41 miles, and Tesoro was second with 92.4 miles.

Klootwyk said the money raised by the GABR helps pay for equipment and treatment that insurance doesn't cover for patients with cerebral palsy.

Hunter, whose grandmother, Rogene Johnson, describes as "smart as a whip," understands how important the money can be for families. He said that his wheelchair costs about $5,000, and the braces on his legs were around $3,000.

"I just feel so bad for the other kids," he said. "Their insurance won't cover the costs."

Klootwyk said the money goes through the Medcenter One Foundation, and a committee distributes it to people who have displayed medical necessity and physical need on applications.

The race does more for children with cerebral palsy than just raise money, though, Klootwyk said.

"This has become their day. They look forward to it,"he said. "These kids, especially the ones in wheelchairs, spend their whole life with the world moving away from them, and this is the one day it comes back toward them."

Hunter, who was flanked most of the day by friends and classmates Albert Rohrich, Landon Harpole and Cameron Moser, agreed the race was about friends and fun.

"When you see a smile on their faces, it just makes you feel so good," Hunter said, with a big smile across his face.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)