PMC Middletown Kids Ride to raise money to help fight cancer: Sunday, May 18

MIDDLETOWN, RI — This Spring, the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) Middletown Kids Ride will be one of 37 PMC Kids Rides throughout New England and beyond. In 2013, the PMC Kids Rides program attracted nearly 4,700 cyclists, ages 2 to 15, who rode between one and 26 miles in mini bike-a-thons to raise money for cancer care and research.

The PMC Kids Rides are spokes in the PMC wheel, joining the more than 5,500 adult PMC cyclists in their mission to fund adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund. The PMC is a two-day, 190-mile bike-a-thon held the first weekend of every August. Since 1980, the PMC has raised $414 million for the Jimmy Fund.

PMC Kids Rides offer a way for children to become part of the PMC mission, involving young people in volunteerism and fundraising in a safe and athletic way. Since the first ride in 1998, The PMC Kids Rides program has raised more than $5.5 million.

To provide the young cyclists with an additional push, the PMC recognizes cyclists in the Kids Rides program who raise $250 or more. Riders who meet this goal are honored as Heavy Hitters and receive an official PMC sack pack and certificate to acknowledge their fundraising achievements. 

The PMC Middletown Kids Ride expects 50 children, ages 2 to15, to ride between two and 18 miles around Aquidneck Island. A trike pike route will be open to the youngest cyclists. The event was started in 2009 by Chad Larcom to further spread the PMC mission. In 1998, his mother, Liz Larcom, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was treated at Dana-Farber while pregnant with his younger sister, Beth. Beth is now the official coordinator of the mini bike-a-thon and their father, Chuck, is a veteran PMC cyclist. The PMC Middletown Kids Ride will hold a party after the ride, which will include music from the AOH Pipe and Drum Band, snacks, refreshments, and raffles. The ride hopes to raise more than $10,000.

The PMC Middletown Kids Ride will be held on Sunday, May 18 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Sachuest Beach parking lot in Middletown. There is a $10 registration fee and a $25 fundraising minimum. PMC Kids Rides are sponsored by the Yawkey Foundation. Contributions can be made payable to the Pan-Mass Challenge. To register, visit http://kids.pmc.org. For more information, email Beth Larcom at beth.larcom1@gmail.com or call 800-WE-CYCLE.

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