Pan-Mass Challenge a Personal Mission for Wellesley Riders and Volunteers

Sherm Palan's task sounds much more glamorous than it is.

"They call this site beautification – what a fancy term for picking up trash," the 75-year-old Sharon resident said, stuffing a black plastic bag with refuse.

The truth is Palan, in his 10^th year as a Pan-Massachusetts Challenge volunteer, didn't need some euphonious euphemism to brighten his outlook. His demeanor while depositing rubbish could have been no better if he were returning a 3-wood to his golf bag after a perfect tee shot.

Palan was just one of hundreds of area volunteers who staffed – some starting as early as 4:30 a.m. Saturday – the Wellesley PMC start/finish at Babson College.

The Pan-Mass Challenge is a cross-state cycling event that since 1980 has raised more than $270 million to improve the lives of people battling cancer. It is the largest single contributor to the Jimmy Fund. More than 5,000 riders and 3,000 volunteers from 36 states and eight countries participated in this year's event, which featured 10 routes, the longest a two-day, 190-mile ride from Sturbridge to Provincetown.

The Wellesley routes, particularly the 84-mile trip to Bourne, have gained popularity in recent years, especially among casual riders seeking manageable challenges.

Palan was both volunteer and rider. He planned to mount his bicycle Sunday, continuing an annual tradition that began a decade ago with a 65^th birthday mission.

"My son, David, started riding in 1991 as a student at Northeastern, just because it's a great athletic event," Palan explained. "Then he realized it's much more than that. And when I turned 65, he said, 'Dad, why don't you give it a try while you still can?'"

Now, Palan's daughter and granddaughters also ride in the PMC.

At one of the breakfast tables set up under a Ringling Bros.-sized tent, fifth-year volunteer Christine Sheridan of Ashland made sure riders and volunteers got the coffee, fruit and bagels they needed to start a grueling day. The PMC is a family affair for her too: Her mother, hustling nearby as the Wellesley site's food coordinator, is a breast cancer survivor.

"I don't know too many people whose lives haven't been touched by cancer," Sheridan said.

Dianne McCarthy of Wellesley, a sixth-year volunteer, would agree. Her eyes water when she thinks of her dear friend, Sue, who finally lost her fight with the insidious disease this January. McCarthy is a 10-year survivor herself and says Sue was one of her biggest supporters when McCarthy was in the midst of treatment.

"I'm wearing her memory on my back," she says, turning to reveal a laminated photograph of the two women pinned between her shoulder blades.

McCarthy shared her story while wiping tables with Waltham resident Winifred Windsor, another woman who has experienced both survivorship and death. Her mother won her bout with cancer 18 years ago; her husband lost his in 2006.

This is Windsor's third PMC, and it certainly won't be her last.

"Once you do it once, you can't wait to do it again," she says.