Barry Davis's
Pan-Massachusetts Challenge
Website To Benefit
The Jimmy Fund
Barry's PMC Beginning
It all began for me in 1982 when my father brought home a bag of bicycle parts I needed before a weekend bike ride . Inside the parts bag was a brown brochure about a bicycle ride to Provincetown. From that moment on, I was hooked. At the time, the PMC was a September event and small in the number of participants. That year, only 246 riders left the Old Sturbridge Village parking lot on a chilly September Saturday morning. Of that group of 246, four were from Oxford (see photo left). From left to right.... Mike Labonte, Mark Mackenzie, Mike Brown and myself.
Unlike today, I rode most of the 190 miles alone. Of the more memorable moments of my first PMC was when I was trying to find the fourth waterstop. Find It!!! It didn't exist when I got there. The woman that was suppose to be there had a family emergency, so waterstop 4 was abandon. A bunch of us stopped along the route and flagged down a ice cream truck and we cleaned it out.
For 26 years I've been part of raising millions of dollars for the Jimmy Fund through my participation in he PMC Every year, I approach family, friends and local businesses to ask if they would like to make a donation to the Jimmy Fund to help me surpass a given years' fundraising minimum.
As the years rolled along, the meaning of the fund raising became clearer to me. My mother passed away to cancer in 1992. I promised her that I would always ride the 192 mile from Sturbridge to Provincetown and raise as much money as I could. Later, in 2004, the mission of the PMC hit home hard again. My wife, Linda, of 20 years passed away. This is the kind of story of loved ones lost to cancer that every single participant of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge has.
My participation in the PMC goes much further that a fund raiser and a cyclists. I have volunteered countless hours in helping set up the Sturbridge starting line, help produce opening ceremonies and now, the PMC's Road Signage Coordinator responsible for lining the various routes with directional arrows for the riders to follow.
From a simple beginning in 1982 to today, the PMC has become a big part of my life. I hope that you can see it in your heart to support me in my fund raising efforts for the Jimmy Fund.
