Hanscom personnel ride PMC

  • Published
  • By Mark Wyatt
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – A bicycling team with Hanscom connections recently participated in a multi-day charitable bike-a-thon throughout the local region.

The Pan-Mass Challenge is an annual bike ride that raises money for cancer research and treatment.

“The Pan-Mass Challenge is a 200 mile bike ride from Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to Provincetown on Cape Cod that our team participates in,” said Scott Hardiman, co-leader for Battle Road Bicyclists. In addition to the two-day ride, participants have an option to ride shorter distances.

Other members of the Battle Road Bicyclists team that rode Aug. 4 and 5 were Cassandra Carlson, C3I and Networks program manager; Richard Cockley, Battle Management cost chief; and Jeffrey Doane, an employee at the MITRE Corp.

Hardiman, who is the deputy director for the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) Integration Directorate, spoke about how he first got involved in the Pan-Mass Challenge.

“Around the time I got back into bike riding in 2011, my mother passed away from cancer,” he said. “And shortly after my mother passed, my college roommate as well as a close family friend in the prime of her life passed away from cancer. It was those things that inspired me to accept the challenge and do what I could for cancer research and treatment.”

Many of the PMC riders ride for similar reasons.

“My dad always inspired me through his interaction with others,” Cockley said, co-leader for Battle Road Cyclists. “He loved life and always found a way to help others.”

Cockley’s father passed away from cancer in 1991.

The Battle Road Bicyclists had a pediatric Pedal Partner as an honorary member of this year’s team.

“We were matched with a pediatric cancer patient who is 10 years old,” Hardiman said. “She has been fighting a very serious form of cancer for three years now. With the funding from PMC, she recently received a cutting-edge treatment and is responding very well to it.”

Hardiman said he thinks about his Pedal Partner, Norah, and the many others affected by cancer while riding.

“It gets emotional,” he said. “Cancer survivors, their families, families of people who have passed away come out and thank you for riding. It really is very emotional and inspiring.”

It’s what motivates the Battle Road Bicyclists, many of whom have served in the military, to accept the challenge.

“We turn our attention to the fight against cancer,” Hardiman said. “The goal is to eliminate it.”

Earlier this month Hardiman completed his fourth PMC, Cockley his fifth. Doane and Carlson completed their third and fifth PMC rides respectfully.

“We ride for different reasons, but we all have a connection to cancer and the devastation it causes,” he said. “Every dollar raised goes to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the fight against cancer.”

According to the PMC website, the Pan-Mass Challenge raises more money than any other athletic fundraising event in the country. Additionally, throughout the past 38 years, PMC cyclists have ridden to raise and contribute more than $590 million to cancer research.

To learn more about the team, visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/brbpmc/.

For those interested in joining the Battle Road Cyclists team, may contact Hardiman at the team’s Facebook page.