Pan-Mass Challenge races to beat cancer

Already, through his long rides, Cesarini has raised the $10,000 necessary to purchase a luminometer, a device that allows researchers to screen new drugs for GIST in weeks rather than months.

The three-decade-old Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, far and away the nation’s most successful athletic fund-raiser, has raised more than $300 million for cancer care, treatment, and research at Dana-Farber. Next weekend, some 5,000 participants, including 635 from south-of-Boston communities, will ride in the event. This year’s fund-raising target is $34 million.

Cesarini said he has no doubt the money raised has been well used.

“Maura’s oncologist, nurse practitioner, pathologists, and researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are responsible for keeping her alive to this day,’’ he said.

An institution with a reputation for up-to-date cancer treatment methods, Dana-Farber also has cutting-edge research.

“These are the people you want to save your life,’’ said Billy Starr, who founded the Pan-Mass Challenge 32 years ago.

The annual biking trek is a two-day event with 11 routes of different lengths that pass through 46 towns from Sturbridge to Provincetown. Six two-day routes range from 153 to 190 miles; five one-day rides range from 25 to 110 miles.

“We bike 200 miles, and you know it doesn’t end there,’’ Starr said. “People recognize that it’s multigenerational - our lifetime and yours.’’

But to ride the ride, first you have to raise the cash. This year cyclists are required to raise between $500 and $4,200 to participate, depending on the length of the chosen route. The Pan-Mass Challenge donates 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar directly to the cause.

“That’s the statistic that I love,’’ said rider Ken Johnstone of Stoughton, who is preparing for his 22d ride.

Waiting in a hospital for his daughter to be born 22 years ago, he kept seeing stories on TV about the 10th annual Pan-Mass Challenge and asked himself what it was all about.

Finding out, he came to a decision.