Cycling closer to a cure: Pan-Mass Challenge riders come through Wareham

Thousands of riders participated in the Pan-Mass Challenge this year, a bike-a-thon that raises funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world leader in cancer treatment and research.

Many of them passed through Wareham, a point that was the last water stop before the end of day one of the full two-day ride.

Katie Moulding marked her tenth year participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge.

Moulding first was inspired to contribute because her husband was a cancer survivor, she said. Since then, she has known more friends and family who have been “touched by cancer.”

Over the years, she has completed the whole two-day route several times as well as several shorter routes. This year, in honor of her tenth anniversary participating in the challenge, she completed the entire ride, Wellesley to Provincetown.

It’s “an enormous undertaking,” she said. “You just do it, waterstop by waterstop.”

She said that knowing the money raised goes to research is important, and is grateful to help contribute to more and better treatments for cancer patients.

Onset resident Mimi Secor took on the Pan-Mass Challenge after surviving cancer in 2023.

“It went great,” Secor said. “It was so exciting!”

Secor is still recovering from chemotherapy, and took on a shorter, 25-mile route rather than the full two-day race. She said she rode with a group of friends and her husband, and they had “Team Mimi” insignia with them.

It was great getting to meet people on the ride, Secor said.

“Everyone had a story; everyone was talking about why they were out there riding. It was inspiring,” she said.