By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

T

he Pan-Mass Challenge is a Massachusetts based bike-a-thon that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country. One hundred percent of the funds go to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research. Each August thousands of riders and volunteer from 43 states and 12 countries all come together for a common goal – to find a cure for cancer. Since its inception by Billy Starr in 1980 the event has now raised over one billion dollars.

Unfortunately, in 1980 Oxford resident Christopher Casey’s mother was diagnosed with a type of lymphoma cancer, but luckily she was cared for by the Dana-Farber Institute. The cancer was cured, but three years later it returned. Once again Dana-Farber was there to guide her on the road to recovery and for the second time, saved her life.

A decade ago, Casey’s father (David) gave in to his friends and colleagues and took to his bike with them to see what the event hype was all about. This year his son finally joined his father on the ride.

 “My father had been riding for ten years and I had been saying I’d ride with him before he retired,” Casey said. “I never thought that the day would come and it actually did, so here I am.”

The elder Casey bought himself a new hybrid bike this year and gave his old bike to his son, so that he could take part in the event. Casey, who had made his father a promise, was taking on a 192-mile bike ride over two days from Sturbridge to Provincetown with absolutely no experience in extended bike riding.

“To be honest, I didn’t really think too much about the event until about one month prior,” he said. “So, I really didn’t do too much training to get ready for the event, I was just going to wing it and see what happens.”

Despite having not prepared all that much Casey was able to get through the 192-miles.

 “I was getting progressively more and more taxed as the first day went on and by 4:30 p.m. as I was rolling into Bourne with my father and sister-in-law Grace, who was also doing the ride, I was totally smoked and beyond tired,” he said. “Bourne had everything you possibly could need and more. Although I was tired during the first day, it was emotional. It’s such a beautiful event with top notch staff and was perfectly orchestrated.”

While overnighting at Mass. Maritime in Bourne the trio was able to eat, relax and get some sound sleep before grabbing a quick breakfast the next morning and jumping right back onto their bikes for day two of the event. This time around Casey was well aware of what he was getting into and although he said he was hurting; he knew the finish line was nowhere as far away as it was a day earlier.

 “Knowing the finish line was closer I kept pushing, “Casey said. “The support on the side of the roads definitely keeps you moving – it was like a big party. The weather this year was a brutal 90 degrees with full humidity and the people at the water stops were spraying us down with hoses keeping us refreshed and ready to move on.”

When Casey eventually crossed the finish line in Provincetown he felt an intense sense of relief and was thinking to himself, ‘thank God it’s over.’

 “All the volunteers and people at the finish line were there thanking us as we came in, but I was in turn thanking them for getting me through this special event,” he said. “Now that it’s over, I will 100 percent be doing it again with my family next year, but I will absolutely be training much more and getting on bike way before the event begins.”