About 250 bikers are expected to turn out Saturday in Cape Girardeau for the Bikers for Babies motorcycle ride to benefit the March of Dimes.

This will be the third annual motorcycle ride. Last year's event raised nearly $20,000. Organizers this year hope to raise $22,000 to fight birth defects and infant mortality.

The event features a ride of 70 miles from Arena Park in Cape Girardeau to the Perryville exit on Interstate 55, and back again. The ride will conclude with lunch, a live band and a motorcycle show at Arena Park, said Susan Davis, March of Dimes division director.

"We will not be going full speed," Davis said of the ride. She estimated the ride, which will begin at 11 a.m., will take an hour and a half to two hours.

Jay Knudtson, senior vice president of Bank of America in Cape Girardeau, will serve as grand marshal for the ride.

"When you participate in Bikers for Babies, the March of Dimes ride, you really are a hero," said Knudtson, an avid motorcycle enthusiast. "That's because you're helping to save babies born prematurely who must fight just to survive."

Participants in the ride raise money by collecting pledges. They also pay a registration fee, Davis said.

The event is one of the largest fund-raisers for the March of Dimes in Southeast Missouri and attracts riders from Missouri and surrounding states.