Thank you to the 5,169 cyclists, the 3,300 volunteers, 240,000 donors, and hundreds of sponsors who supported the 2011 Pan-Massachusetts Challenge. Thanks to you, we donated a record-tying $35 million for lifesaving cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 2011 was a banner year for the PMC. We celebrated the dedication and opening of the PMC Plaza at the state-of-the-art Yawkey Center for Cancer Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The PMC's donation of $183 million was the new center's lead gift. The PMC is honored at the building through a sculpture entitled "Tandem," which speaks to the way the PMC works to fund and support the groundbreaking research and care that takes place at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The PMC route is marked on bricks on the plaza. We continued to foster a new generation of PMC cyclists as 35 PMC Kids Rides were held across New England. These young cyclists raised more than $800,000.
We honored our riders through events all year long including the First Year Heavy Hitter Wine Tasting, the annual Heavy Hitter Dinner, and PMC Night at Fenway Park, where 28 PMC cyclists -- all cancer survivors -- rode around the warning track of historic Fenway Park in a moving ceremony.
We supported young cancer patients and their families through our Pedal Partner program, as they gave us the motivation to train and raise as much money as we could to fight cancer. We celebrated with 75 of our Pedal Partners during our annual Pedal Partner kick off party at Fenway Park in May. Many PMC teams continued a strong relationship with our Pedal Partner families all summer long. Finally when PMC weekend arrived in August, riders, volunteers and the media were abuzz when cycling legend and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong joined our ranks.
Armstrong was among 350 cancer survivors who rode in this year's ride, our Living Proof that the PMC makes a difference.
May you and your family have a healthy, happy New Year. We will see you in 2012.
