BOSTON (AP) — This year’s Pan-Mass Challenge raised $75 million for cancer research and treatment, putting the cross-state charity bicycle ride over the $1 billion mark since 1980. “This year’s PMC gift marks an incredible milestone in its 45-year history,” PMC founder and executive director Billy Starr said. “We have demonstrated the impact cycling and fundraising together can achieve, but our work is not done.
We’re setting our sights on the next billion as we pedal ‘Closer by the Mile’ toward a world without cancer.” A total of 6,800 riders, supported by 3,500 volunteers, cycled as many as 211 miles across Massachusetts in August as part of the largest athletic fundraiser in the world. The PMC is the biggest single contributor to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, helping to fund research and build new facilities.
“As a six-year PMC rider myself, I share the excitement of all the participants,” Dana-Faber President and CEO Benjamin L. Ebert said. “And as a researcher, I see the impact on research and patient care from funds raised by this community every day.
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