Ruthie Rides Again

Westport resident Ruth Sherman estimates that during the last two decades she has helped to raise nearly $180,000 to support the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

"I raised $13,000 this year," Sherman reports.

Since 1988, Sherman has supported cancer research by riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, an annual bike-a-thon that raises money for the Farber Center through the Jimmy Fund Bike Race.

This week, she again heads to Massachusetts to participate in what, for her, has become an annual pilgrimage.

"My purpose is to help raise enough money so that my grandchildren's children will never have to know what cancer is," she said. "There are kids today who don't know that polio ever existed. I want to see the same thing happen to cancer."

The bike-a-thon takes place Saturday and Sunday. Opening ceremonies will be held on Friday. The Pan-Mass Challenge runs through 46 towns across Massachusetts. Sherman is one of the more than 5,000 cyclists expected to ride this year.

Several routes are offered in the event. Sherman is participating in the 190-mile Sturbridge to Provincetown route.

"My husband, Lawrence, is driving me to Sturbridge, where I will spend the first night. Then I go 100 miles to Bourne and sleep there. The next day we bike to Provincetown," she said.

She credits the Pan-Mass Challenge's fund-raising model as the source of her many years of dedication to this cause.

"One-hundred percent of the funds raised go to the Farber Center," Sherman said. "No money goes to administrators. It all goes directly to the cause of curing cancer."

Traditionally, Sherman participates in the annual fundraiser as part of a group named "Ruthie's Riding Rascals."

"My husband, my children and my in-laws have ridden in the fundraiser over the years, but this year it's just me," she said. "Everyone else has other commitments."

At its largest, Ruthie's Riding Rascals had eight bicyclists in the event. "Usually the other members of the group would end up way ahead of me," she said, laughing.

But, every year she trains for the bike race rigorously and regularly.

"In April I begin to ride 20 miles each day in preparation. I rarely miss a day," she said.

She is hoping this year's event offers good weather. "I've seen the worst and the best," she said. "Sometimes it has poured, other times it's been humid and some years it's been a postcard."

Sherman, who is a fitness instructor at the Westport-Weston Family Y,  has been a Westport resident for 27 years. She is the mother of Suzanne, 47; Caroline, 45; Alex, 43 and Russell, 41.

A press release issued by the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) reports that cyclists will travel from 36 states and eight countries to ride in this year's fundraiser.

More than 300 riders are cancer survivors or current patients. Some PMC cyclists are weekend warriors; others are trained triathletes. Many PMC participants ride in honor of a family member or friend fighting the disease.

Cyclists range in age from 13 to 83. The average PMC cyclist is 43 years old, trains for three months, solicits 40 sponsors and raises more than $6,000.

During PMC weekend and throughout the year, 3,000 volunteers donate their time and 200 corporations provide in-kind donations of products or services.

The PMC was founded in 1980 by Billy Starr, who remains the event's executive director, an annual cyclist and a fundraiser. It is presented by the Red Sox Foundation.