Signal Mountain resident Kirk Burns recently joined 6,500 other cyclists in pedaling up to 220 miles during the Pan-Mass Challenge, the largest single athletic fundraising event in the country. Participants ride with the collective goal of raising $46 million to support adult and pediatric cancer patient care and cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Burns said this was his first year participating in the ride, which his employer, Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, has sponsored and sent a group of about 20 employees to participate in for the past five years.
“It’s obviously for a great cause – cancer research – and I thought, ‘Let’s be a part of this solution,'” Burns said as to why he decided to ride in this year’s ride, held in Massachusetts at the beginning of August.
Cyclists from more than 40 states and seven countries who participated in the PMC chose their routes from 12 options of varying mileage, collectively taking them through 46 towns, according to a release.
When asked what helped him get through the 108 miles of cycling he did that Saturday and the 76 additional miles he did on Sunday, Burns joked that “Advil helped,” as did the 20-minute breaks he took at each resting point on the route.