Pan-Mass Challenge Rides for 47th Year

August 3, 2026
• Across 320 miles of route through Massachusetts, their reasons varied, but many signaled a desire to make a difference.

Bright and early this weekend, approximately 3,200 cyclists pedaled through Needham as part of the Pan-Mass Challenge, while another 3,300 riders started their mornings in Worcester.

In its 47th year, the event is “the largest sports fundraising event in the world dedicated to cancer research,” PMC Founder and Chair Billy Starr said. All funds raised support the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and its Jimmy Fund Clinic.

In total, the PMC has raised $1.1 billion, with a record-setting $78 million raised last year. This year, organizers aimed to topple that, thanks to people’s generous donations, Starr said.

“This year’s goal is $79 million,” Starr said in an interview Wednesday. “Right now, we are tracking favorably.” At that time, Starr said the organization reached $45 million. Donations will continue to be accepted until Oct. 1.

Saturday morning, riders trekked to Babson College, where the first wave pushed off at 6:45 a.m. Site Coordinator Nicaela Chinnaswamy said the tents first go up Monday, and set up with supplies and crews continue through the week.

Chinnaswamy, who herself rode in PMC in 2015 and 2018, said the energy is “electric.”

“Everyone’s riding for a really important reason. I always get goosebumps when they actually start moving and start out, but I think that’s why we’re all here, that’s part of the meaning,” Chinnaswamy said. “It’s emotional too, but that’s welcomed as much as the excitement because everyone gets it. Everyone unfortunately knows someone or had a very personal experience themselves. There’s a lot of living proof survivors who are here, too.”

After he started cycling in the ’60s, Starr said he would regularly ride from his home in Newton to Provincetown, totaling around 120 miles. Now, about 70% of registered riders make a similar journey to P-Town through PMC, he said.

He founded the ride in 1980, after losing his mother, uncle and cousin in the ’70s, he said.

“I was from a close family, and it rocked my world, made me start thinking ‘what could I do in the war on cancer?,’” he said. “And it all kind of coalesced in this Pan-Mass Challenge event.”

Since then, the event grew each following year, with the exception of the pandemic. And even though this is his first year not riding — he fractured his pelvic bone — Starr has so far raised $120,000 himself this year.

“Because that’s the mission. The bike ride is the candy, the mission is funding research at Dana-Farber,” he said.

The route a rider chooses determines how much money they need to raise. Those who rode the two-day route needed to raise $6,000, while one-day riders raised $4,000. Participants could also mix and match any variation of route, which changes the amount needed to be raised to align with different circumstances.

There were two routes available to riders on Saturday and three on Sunday. Some stuck close to home and completed one of the two Wellesley loops, while others rode as far as Bourne and some rode further still, going all the way to the finish line in Provincetown.

While the PMC has 16 full-time staff members and seven summer interns, the event attracts the help of 3,500 volunteers. After setting up the routes and necessary medical and mechanic areas, crews also line the sides of the road cheering on the nearly 6,500 cyclists, and also ride in the numerous vans that follow the riders on their journey.

“We’re here at 4 a.m. and everyone’s ready to go, you don’t hear anyone complain about being tired,” Chinnaswamy said.

Everyone has their own reason for riding, but cyclists will often find a team of individuals riding for the same cause and create a group to support each other with fundraising and during the long ride.

Team Animal, spotted with plushies of Animal from “The Muppet Show” on their helmets, prepared themselves before they got on the road. Founded about 18 years ago, they’ve raised more than $1 million, cyclist Ryan Fitzgerald said.

“The guy that founded the team was a drummer, so that’s how the team got started,” said Fitzgerald, 64, of Sturbridge. This is his 15th PMC ride. “We have some survivors on the team and everyone knows somebody these days who’s either a survivor, hopefully, or has been affected. And you ride for them.”

Charice, 50, a cyclist from Southbridge, said she’s riding for her cousin, who had cancer.

“He was like ‘You need to ride for me,’” she said. “It was just going to be that one year, it was just going to be once…and here we are [13 years later].”

The promise of creating a world without cancer keeps these riders coming back year after year and knowing that they are making a difference by the mile provides all the motivation to make it to the finish line.

“People have signs saying ‘You helped me’ or ‘You helped somebody I care about,’” Fitzgerald said. “And the ride up the hill to the Pedal Partners stop, they have pictures of all the kids.”

Kristin Halley, 52, a cyclist from Westfield, marked her 11th PMC ride this year. She recalled, in her first year, seeing a young adult on the sidelines holding a sign that read, “I went to college because of you.”

“It makes you emotional,” Halley said. “This is why we ride.”

Bee Eckels is a rising senior at Simmons University, where she is studying writing and journalism. Her work has also appeared in The Simmons Voice.