Joe on the Go: A PMC video blog

August 3, 2009 By Ted McEnroe Leave a Comment

NECN meteorologist Joe Joyce climbed aboard his bicycle on August 2 for the Sunday ride from Bourne to Provincetown for Day 2 of the PMC.

(Editor’s Note: We’re not saying Joe didn’t train much, but many of you out there may have put more miles on your bike wheeling it to and from the garage than Joe did on the road this summer.)

Joe and fellow NECN staffer (and PMC icon) David Beauvais set out together from Bourne at 5am on Sunday – and seven-plus hours later, they pulled into Provincetown with a great reminder of the support, mission and fun that makes the PMC the special event it is.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events, Team NECN Tagged With: Bourne, Dave Beauvais, Joe Joyce, Provincetown

PMC 2009: Sights and sounds

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

Donate to the cause by visiting Team NECN’s PMC profile page. 100-percent of donations go toward research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: PMC 2009

PMC 2009: Family, friends are recurring themes

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

This year, more than 5,000 riders took part in an effort to raise $30 million for the Jimmy Fund.

The Provincetown II made its way to Boston, filled with PMC riders who completed their rides earlier on Sunday.

Family and friends seemed to be a recurring theme when riders were asked their thoughts on the event.

“This is my second year riding in the Pan Mass Challenge. I ride in memory of my dad and a friend of mine,” Pam Bird said. “It’s been an amazing experience.”

“I have a friend who died a year-and-a-half ago,” Eric Hudson said. “You think a lot about your friends, people you love and people in your life.”

“My cousin Henry passed away of cancer, and he was an avid bike rider. I decided it would only be appropriate if I did a bike ride in his honor. There were borne the flying Henry’s,” Karl Beauloukian said.

And there were so many more riders who found the inspiration to ride from their family and friends.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: PMC 2009

PMC 2009: Once riding in mother's honor, now in her memory

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

For eight years, he rode to honor his mother, a cancer survivor.

This year, he’s riding in her memory.

Hidden in the sea of riders rounding the turn and heading into Nickerson State Park in Brewster is a man riding with a heavy heart.

On this second day of the Pan Mass Challenge, Rob Goodman pedals along, cheers from the crowd ringing in his ears, his mind wandering from the road ahead.

“I’m thinking about my mom, of course, I hit those hills, I mean I feel selfish for feeling tired because I just think about her, what she went through, and it gives you that extra bit of adrenaline,” Goodman said.

Joyce Goodman fought breast cancer 15 years ago and won.

Then in 2007, she was diagnosed with a rare form of uterine cancer.

She kept coming to support her son Rob in the PMC, ever the family matriarch, continuing to battle cancer and enjoy precious moments with her children and grandchildren.

“Her doctors didn’t give her much time, but amazingly she made it two years. And I’m sorry to say she passed away in May, the day before mother’s day, but she fought amazingly well,” Goodman said.

A Babson College grad who lived for several years in Boston and has now returned to Westchester County, New York, Rob’s first 8 years in the PMC were to honor his mother while she lived.

He is now riding to remember her life.

“This is all about her. We’re going to keep it up and ride in her memory, and it’s tough. It’s tough not being able to ride in Bourne and see her and get that first hug from her and kiss,” her son said.

Also riding in Joyce Goodman’s memory, is her son-in-law Mark Feldman who is riding for the 4th year.

“We’re just going to keep on going. You know, this is just, we’re a small cog in the long long wheel here. It’s a great cause,” Feldman said.

Only adding a layer of emotion on a day filled with them is that today, August 2, was Joyce Goodman’s birthday.

She would have been 72.

“We always had a birthday cake for her the Saturday night, but you know, we had a birthday cake for her last night, in her memory. And we keep going on because we want to help other people and hopefully the money we raise keeps someone else’s mother, sister, brother, father, still around,” Goodman said.

Goodman has raised close to $175,000 in nine years.

Even after losing his mother to cancer, Rob Goodman pledges to continue to ride the PMC in the years to come.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events, Rider Profiles Tagged With: PMC 2009

PMC 2009: The over-the-hill cheerleaders

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

Cherry Street definitely knows how to keep the riders going.

And so do two sisters who have made rooting along the route an annual tradition.

Brenda Hebert of Leominster, Massachusetts and her sister Evelyn call themselves “the over-the-hill cheerleaders”.

On the first day of the 2009 PMC, the pair was yelling for riders while dressed as leprechauns.

“They struggle so hard and if we can give them a little lift along the way,” Evelyn Wisnosky said. “And the cause. Let’s face it — that’s the root of it, you know, the money coming in. If they’re willing to ride for it, we’re willing to kind of make ourselves look a little foolish for them.”

Brenda and Evelyn dress in costume each year. This was their 23rd straight year cheering along the PMC route.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: PMC 2009

PMC 2009: Dustin, Filosa's tales from the trail

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

The 30th running of the Pan Mass Challenge was in the books on Sunday night, as riders traveled back to Boston via boat.

The event raising money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Donate to the cause by visiting Team NECN’s PMC profile page.

Fifteen-year rider Matthew Dustin thanked the good weather for making this year’s event a smooth one. Over the years, he has seen an increase in ridership.

“A lot of the changes have been in the number of people on the road,” Matthew Dustin said. “It’s really a hero’s welcome for people who spend a lot of time raising money for the PMC, that goes to Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.”

“The most memorable moment this year was we had great weather and we had no accidents on the road,” Dustin said.

Michael Filosa also road in this latest edition of the PMC, his third overall. This year, Michael decided to extend the PMC and ride from the New York border all the way to Provincetown.

“When you have things like that touch your heart, you need, something like that as a way of giving back and motivating you and fighting this terrible disease,” Filosa said.

“My dad’s a warrior,” son Peter Filosa said.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: PMC 2009

PMC 2009: Team Savanna's Smiles at family finish

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

Eight-year-old Savanna James is surrounded by love — and by some very rugged bicyclists. Among them: Her grandmother, Kyle James, of Concord, Mass.

“She is now three years cancer-free, and so that’s who we’re riding for,” Kyle said in an interview Sunday after finishing the 190-mile Pan Mass Challenge fundraising ride.

Kyle captains the Team Savanna’s Smiles, a group this year of eight riders. Various incarnations of the team have hit the road each August for the last four years.

Savanna, from Burlington, Mass., was just four when she was diagnosed with a Ewing’s sarcoma tumor next to her brain that required surgeons to remove part of her skull to treat.

Her dad, Dylan James, joined Team Savanna’s Smiles for the first time this year and just completed his first Pan Mass ride Sunday morning.

“She’s made it through her treatments, and this was the first year I felt I could be away long enough with confidence that we could be here and be part of the team,” Dylan said.

Like so many riders, Dylan was stunned by the impact of the outpouring of support he got from spectators along the whole Sturbridge-to-Provincetown route.

“It’s actually quite emotional to see all the people who come out and give all their support. I didn’t expect that at all. It was very, very special,” he said.

Kyle James agreed that “It’s just awesome, the support along the route from people who are getting up at five in the morning to be there. Those people really need to be thanked and appreciated for all they do to come out and to cheer.”

Besides Savanna’s grandmother, father, and aunt, five friends of her grandmother’s — including two who came all the way from Bermuda — suited up for the team ride this year. Asked how it felt to have so many people riding in her honor, Savanna said, “It’s good. It’s fun. I like it.”

Besides all the riders, her three James cousins and her great-grandparents and several other family members and friends joined the group cheering members of Team Savanna Smiles in Provincetown.

The family finish in Provincetown is a special alternative to the main finish line. While at the main finish the press is to get cyclists through and off the road, at the family finish, there’s enough time for riders to get a hug and a kiss from their family members after they finish 190 hard miles of riding across the Bay State.

First-time rider Tim Carty of Charlton, Mass., was greeted at the finish by his wife, Kathy, and two sons, who had managed to drive to almost every water stop and cheer him on before also meeting him at the finish line.

“The best surprise was that it was easier than I thought it was going to be,” said Tim, who woke up many days at 5 a.m. to go for training rides. He said he will definitely be back another year to ride again.

Team Savanna’s Smiles will also be back — and as they celebrate her third year of good health, they are already thinking of others. This year the James family’s group rode in support of Matty, a five-year-old family friend who on the same day they were riding was recovering from a bone-marrow transplant at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Said Dylan James, Savanna’s father, “It’s very personal and very emotional for a lot of the riders. You have to ride. You have to give back. You have to be part of it.”

Donate by visiting Team NECN’s PMC profile page.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: Family Finish, PMC 2009, Savanna's Smiles

PMC 2009: A host of inspiration found in Provincetown

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

192 miles of biking across Massachusetts is an amazing accomplishment, especially when that effort raises money to fund the fight against cancer.

Nearly two dozen riders of Team Fat Tuesday crossed the finish line on Sunday, wearing beards fit for Mardi Gras. Tim Brighton, member of the team, lost his brother to cancer.

Jonathan Seigel, hit by a drunk driver on Super Bowl Sunday, could not be stopped from riding in this year’s Pan Mass Challenge.

“I shattered my femur, my back and my ankle,” Seigel said, riding in his 25th PMC. “We’ve all at times been affected by cancer and we ride together to stop it.”

Former Boston Bruin Don Sweeney rode in memory of pedal partner Jeff Hayes, who lost his battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma two years ago at the age of 19.

“It’s not a race here this weekend, it’s a race to beat the disease,” Sweeney said.

Team NECN rode for pedal partner Caroline Lane, a 10-year-old surviving bone cancer.

“To see child and a 10-year-old to tackle it like that, I’m really impressed,” NECN assistant news director Bob Keating said.

Hannah’s Bandanas ride for Karen Packman’s daughter, who is surviving leukemia.

NECN’s Ally Donnelly reports from the finish line.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: PMC 2009, Provincetown, Team NECN

PMC 2009: Riders cross Wellesley finish line

August 2, 2009 By Adam Hart Leave a Comment

Pan Mass Challenge riders were on a high after biking nearly 200 miles across Massachusetts over the weekend.

But Provincetown was not the only finish line. There were several places that riders could end their trek, including Babson College in Wellesley.

Nearly 800 riders wrapped up their quest sunday at Babson College. One of them was 13-year-old Connor McNeil, taking part in his first Pan Mass Challenge with his father, Jon.

“I’ve done the kids PMC for the past three years, but now I decided to step it up and do the 47-mile one,” McNeil said. “Very different.”

These riders either took part a 47-mile loop that started and ended at Babson; or they peddled up from Bourne, Massachusetts after spending the night at Mass. Maritime Academy.

All of them, however, are committed to the same cause — the fight against cancer.

“Our team has a peddle partner — a young pedal partner who’s nine — and he’s doing pretty well, but he’s had many, many surgeries,” Jeanne Cowan said. “We get reminded by Billy Starr, that when this all started, 85-percent of the kids didn’t make it and now 85-percent of the kids do make it.”

This is the third or fourth year NECN reporter John Moroney has covered the finish of the PMC in Wellesley.

“It’s not Provincetown, but it’s still a great place to end the weekend. And none of it would have possible without the help of more than 350 volunteers, who spend the weekend here riders with whatever they need,” Moroney said.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events Tagged With: PMC 2009, Wellesley

PMC 2009: Journey not over as riders cross finish line

August 2, 2009 By Larry Holmes Leave a Comment

Riders stream into Provincetown as PMC looks to reach new goal

(NECN: Ally Donnelly – Provincetown, MA) – Thousands of cyclists for the 30th annual Pan Mass Challenge are crossing the finish line in Provincetown.

Many bikers journeyed 192 miles from Sturbridge Massachusetts all the way to the tip of Cape Cod!.

The PMC is the most successful athletic fund raising event in the world.

NECN reporter Ally Donnelly joins us from the finish line in Provincetown, where riders are streaming in.

Team NECN member Ted McEnroe found out that day 2 of the ride was a little more difficult than Saturday.

Don Sweeney from Team Bruins talked about how biking is the easy part of the weekend and how the fund raising aspect is where the hard work comes in to fight against the disease.

Over the years the PMC has raised nearly $240-million for cancer research and treatment and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute thru its Jimmy Fund.

This year for the 30th anniversary of the ride, the goal is $30 million.

Filed Under: Front Page, PMC Events, Team NECN Tagged With: don sweeney, Pan Mass Challenge, PMC 2009, Provincetown, Ted McEnroe
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