Among those training for this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) on August 6 and 7 are five individuals riding as “Team Elka STRONG” in a show of friendship and support in honor of Ashland resident Elka Stokar Troutman. Their goal is to raise $25,000 to help eradicate cancer.
Last year’s PMC drew 6,000 cyclists from 41 states and eight countries and raised a record $45 million in support of life-saving cancer research and treatment through the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
“Elka is a dear friend of mine,” Tracey Lydon, the team captain, said. “She is one of the most giving people I know, always thinking of others first. Our kids are growing up together, and we want many more years with one another to celebrate our families’ milestones. I feel helpless to help the one person I would do anything for, so if this is one small thing I can do to make a difference, I want to do it.”
Troutman is a familiar name to parents of elementary-age children and to Ashland businesses as she has been involved in Ashland’s Summer Reading Program for the past eight years, and managed the program for the past four. The reading program encourages youngsters in grades 1 to 6 with prize incentives from local merchants to read as many books as they can over the summer months.
Despite knee replacement surgery last year, Lydon is up for the 2016 PMC. She reached out to friends to create Team Elka STRONG, which includes fellow Ashland residents Randy Krauss and Francois Sicard, Milford resident Lisa Campopiano and Westborough resident Mark Barsamian.
This past winter, the team was involved in many hours of intense workouts on their bikes hooked up to Compu Train® riding systems at Grace Bicycles, their go-to bicycle shop in Holliston. Spring training will mean increasingly longer outdoor rides starting weekends in April all through July.
Krauss, who also volunteers on the Friday of the PMC weekend helping with rider registration, said their weekend training rides will begin at 20 miles in and around Ashland and the neighboring communities and gradually work up–in five-mile increments –to about 65 miles a trip. This kind of regular endurance exercise will be important to ready their muscles for the actual event.
Like most riders, Lydon and her teammates have experienced the reach of cancer whether it is a loved one living with the disease or by celebrating the lives of family members, coworkers, friends or neighbors. These are friends supporting friends; united by a common cause.
“This riding team is phenomenal. I’m happy to ride with them,” Barsamian, a physician who will be riding in his second PMC this August, said. “They are highly motivated, very energetic, and raising money for an important cause. Research has been a large part of my life, and it’s an honor to play a part in helping rid society of this devastating disease.”
PMC Raises Money for Research
Individual riders have to achieve set minimum fundraising goals, anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000, depending on the route taken and number of days riding. According to the PMC website, 100 percent of every rider-generated dollar goes directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Founded in 1980 by Billy Starr, the PMC is an annual bike-a-thon that today raises more money for charity than any other single athletic event in the country. More than $500 million dollars has been raised to date and devoted to cancer research.
Over the years, the PMC has grown considerably and consistently. Several cycling routes are now available, coursing over 360 miles of road and through 48 communities in the Commonwealth. Perhaps the most well-known is the hilly Sturbridge-to-Provincetown route, which is 192 miles of long-distance endurance riding over the two-day PMC weekend in August. The other course options allow cyclists flexibility and offer routes requiring slightly less strenuous endurance levels.
Navigating the PMC Route
Team Elka STRONG members Campopiano, Krauss and Lydon will navigate the Day One/Saturday, Aug. 6 route from a starting point at Babson College in Wellesley at 7 a.m. and travel along back roads down to Bourne, covering a distance of 84 miles. The ride starts with what seems like a 25-mile descent and finishes with a combination of rolling hills and flats, taking between 3.5 and 11 hours, depending on the rider.
Krauss, Barsamian and Sicard will awaken in Bourne at 3:30 a.m. in the pitch black on Day Two/Sunday, Aug. 7 to pack up their tents, grab a shower at the Mass Maritime Academy (where other PMC cyclists will be lodging), chow down a PMC-sponsored breakfast in a huge tent amidst a mass of humanity, refill their water bottles, and be on the road by 5:15 a.m. Their 80-mile trek will follow along a partly coastal route and take the cyclists by picturesque cranberry bogs as they work their way from Bourne back to the Babson College finish line in Wellesley. This route, which consists of flats and rolling terrain, began in 2000 to accommodate riders looking for a more convenient location and slightly less grueling ride. It has become the fastest growing route option of the PMC. Depending on pace and rest times, this ride can last from 3 to 8.5 hours.
In all cases, the PMC sponsors water/rest spots approximately 20 miles apart along the various cycling routes while myriad onlookers cheer on the cyclists, encouraging riders to be safe, stay hydrated and have fun.
“This is one of the most powerful experiences of my life,” Krauss, four-time PMC alum, said. “There is tremendous support from your fellow riders and an amazing number of people lining the route, handing out water and waving you on. It’s such a great motivator to feel the energy of the crowd.”
Campopiano, a nine-year veteran of the event, agreed. “The spirit of the crowd is electric and the level of camaraderie and unity is amazing. The PMC weekend is my favorite weekend of the year. I love it, and I’m humbled this year to ride in support of Elka. Her openness, strength and honesty are empowering.”
Support the Team
To make a donation in support of Team Elka STRONG or any individual team member, visit http://profile.pmc.org/TE0069 or go to www.pmc.org and search on the “Team Elka STRONG” name. The team’s fundraising deadline is October 1, 2016.
To follow each day’s route or cheer the riders on in person, visit www.pmc.org/rides/wellesley-bourne for the Saturday leg of their journey and www.pmc.org/routes/bourne-babson for the Sunday challenge.
Issue Date:
April, 2016
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