Pan-Mass. Challenge Raises $33 Million For Cancer Research

November 12, 2010

Curt Nickisch

Cyclists start the 27th annual Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, in Sturbridge, in 2006. (AP)

This year’s Pan-Massachusetts Challenge fundraiser raised $33 million for Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Organizers will present a donation check Friday. The amount is 8.6 percent more than last year’s donation, but not as high as the record two years ago.

PMC President Billy Starr said the cycling fundraiser he founded in 1980 has now raised more $303 million in all.

"Three hundred million plus, you know," Starr said. "Who would have believed it 30 years ago?"

In August, 5,000 cyclists rode the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge.

Dana-Farber President Edward Benz said the donation will fund cancer research that otherwise would not have happened.

"PMCers are united by a sense of purpose and the conviction that cancer can be conquered,” Benz said.

The PMC had set the fundraising goal at $31 million and exceeded it by $2 million.

More:

Commentary: Closer By The Mile, Thanks To The PMC

This program aired on November 12, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.