More than 7,000 riders from around the country and world participated in the Pan-Mass Challenge in Massachusetts on Aug. 3 and 4. Sedona’s Elizabeth “Betty” McGinnis was one of them.
The goal of the PMC is to raise funds for cancer research, a cause near to McGinnis, who has lost multiple friends and family to the disease. McGinnis originally intended to raise $4,000, a goal she’s already exceeded. With more than a month of fundraising efforts remaining, McGinnis has raised $5,600.
“All the people who just donated and just offered their support and encouragement along the way — it was just amazing,” McGinnis said. “All of the emails, texts and phone calls that I got helped keep me jazzed for the whole thing. It was very nice.”
The goal of the entire PNC was to raise $60 million. Presently, just short of $50 million has been raised. A number of things moved McGinnis along her ride. One was the support of her family. Her brother, Michael McGinnis, was one of the officers to give a police escort to McGinnis and the other riders. She also praised her brother-in-law, Kevin, the husband of her late sister, Cathy, who was one of McGinnis’ inspirations for riding. McGinnis called Kevin the team manager, citing how much he helped her and other family members who were also riding. McGinnis was also blown away by the support from not only the PMC’s volunteers, but the people in the communities that the race ran through.
On Cherry Street in Framingham, the entire street came out to offer its support. This included bagpipes, a steel drum band, a drum band, as well as people cooling riders down by spraying water and waiving signs thanking the riders and paying tribute to lost loved ones.
“And that was just one street,” McGinnis said. “It happened all along the way. Many riders had gone through all of this ahead of me. The people still waited in front yards for us in the back of the pack. They waited all day long for the last riders to get through.”
McGinnis rode for 82 of the 109 miles, including the toughest 75 of the ride. For the remainder, she got a respite from a van.
She described the event as one of the most difficult physical and emotional experiences of her life. Despite that, McGinnis has already begun planning to ride in the PMC again in 2020.
“It was just that amazing,” she said. “It was unbelievably awesome in so many ways. The enthusiasm and emotion was incredible.”
While the ride is over, anyone interested in contributing to McGinnis’ fundraising efforts can do so at donate.pmc.org/EM0289. The cutoff date is Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Michael Dixon can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131 or email to mdixon@larsonnewspapers.com
