Dempsey Challenge brings home $1.1 million

LEWISTON — With TV star Patrick Dempsey in the lead, about 1,800 cyclists of all ages rolled across the Dempsey Challenge starting line Sunday morning.

They were headed for noncompetitive rides marking the second day of the second annual Patrick Dempsey Challenge. The benefit event had raised $1.1 million for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing at Central Maine Medical Center when it closed at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Beginning at Simard-Payne Police Memorial Park, more than 650 participants rode a 100-mile circuit over highways of Androscoggin and Oxford Counties.

The 50-mile route had 830 riders. Another 365 took part in the 25-mile route and 87 pedaled a 10-mile trip.

The bicycles ranged from high-end gear to family-oriented equipment that included many mountain bikes. There were a few tandem bicycles (once known as bicycles built for two) and at least three bikes built for triple pedalers.

It took nearly 20 minutes for all of the cyclists from first to last to cross the starting line.

Most of the riders sported colorful cycling gear, and all of them had helmets for proper head protection. One girl of pre-teen age wore all pink and rode a pink youth-sized bicycle as a show of support for breast cancer research.

Organizers said the registration count for the walk/run events Saturday and the cycling on Sunday totaled 4,175.

Dempsey, who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd in the hit ABC-TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” founded the event, and Sunday afternoon he walked at the park with cancer survivors including his mother, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1997. The were accompanied in the Angen Breakaway from Cancer Survivor Walk by Dempsey’s sister, Mary, who is volunteer corps manager for the Dempsey Center.

As she prepared to join the cycling event earlier in the day, Mary Dempsey told the crowd she was surprised to find that the number assigned to her for the ride was 40. In addition to cycling, Patrick Dempsey has a passion for auto racing, and 40 is the number of the car he drives for a Grand Am road racing team.

At the close of the event, Dempsey told the cheering crowd, “I am so proud to be in this community” on any occasion he is able to return. He is a native of Lewiston and was raised in Turner and Buckfield.

“I have seen it change so much over the years,” he said. “It’s improving in so many ways.”

He noted that fitness has become a priority for people in the area, including walking. He told the audience that his mother used to say, “We are going for a walk. Shut the TV off.” He quipped, “It doesn’t stop now, and I’m on TV.”

He told the crowd, “You guys are amazing. Each and every one of you has made a difference, and it’s your center.”

Dempsey shifted easily between the serious message and some light-hearted banter with raffle winners.

Peter Chalk, CEO of Central Maine Medical Center, said, “It has been an emotional weekend,” and “the stories we have heard from you about hope and healing, and about volunteers doing extraordinary things has been just amazing.”

Chalk said 900 volunteers worked on the event. He added that 100 percent of the funds raised by the Dempsey Challenge go directly to the center, which provides its services free of charge.

At the cycle ride start in the morning, CMMC communications specialist Mark Turcotte told the cyclists there was a man who had hoped to join them. He said Alan Libby died just a few weeks ago, but he assured them that Libby was riding in spirit. A team called “Fitness Fanatics” rode in Libby’s memory.

Another speaker this weekend was 11-year-old Cameron Marshall, a cancer survivor. He met Dempsey last year when TV’s Extreme Home Make-Over Show was doing his family’s home in New Hampshire last year.

Mike Allen, Mark Kostin and Mike Robichaud, all of Yarmouth, finished the 100-mile ride with lots of praise for the event, the volunteers and the public support.

Robichaud noted that not a mile of the trip passed without people thanking them.

Kostin commented that when knee pain was becoming noticeable near the end, he realized his discomfort for the benefit of the center was nothing compared to what people with cancer endure.

The Festival in the Park tents included displays of hundreds of prayer flags made on site by young and old supporters.

There was an information tent that included facilities for matching potential donors in the Marrow Donor Drive Program.

The Masonic Child Identification Program was a feature of a KidZone booth.

Next year’s third annual Dempsey Challenge is scheduled for Oct. 8-9, 2011.

: Patrick Dempsey gives a thumbs-up as he rides to the finish of the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston on Sunday.

: Maureen Goff of New Gloucester cheers for the cyclists at the start of the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston on Sunday. Goff’s husband Dan was biking the 50-mile ride, and Goff had plans to make lots of noise at four different places along the course. “He is going to hate me by the end of the day,” said Goff.

: A crowd gathers around Patrick Dempsey after he pulled into a rest stop along Route 11 in Poland on Sunday.

: Doris Fournier of Lewiston talks with eight-time Tour de France competitor Levi Leipheimer at the finish line of the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston on Sunday. Fournier’s husband of 53 years, George, died in March of cancer. “He was my sweetie,” Fournier said of George. Fournier and her daughter Joline Vachon, a cancer survivor, of Lisbon Falls came to the challenge to cheer on Fournier’s other daughter, Sue Collins, who flew out from Indianapolis to bike during the event. Leipheimer, an Olympic bronze medalist, rode alongside actor Patrick Dempsey during the 50-mile ride.

: Lyle Uecker of Kaukauna, Wisconsin, rode during the Dempsey Challenge with the mask he wore during radiation treatments on the front of his bike. Uecker found out that he had cancer the same day that the bike he dreamed of owning since he was a kid arrived at his local bike shop from being made in Italy. Uecker and his wife Lisa drove from Wisconsin to participate in the challenge as a way to celebrate being cancer free for one year.

: Patrick Dempsey talks with Matt White of Livermore Falls prior to the start of the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston on Sunday. A moment of silence was held for White’s father, Alan Libby, who died unexpectedly on Sept. 11 while training for the challenge. Matt White rode his father’s bike 50 miles while carrying his ashes Sunday. “I don’t know how he did it,” White said of his father’s bike. “This bike is heavy,” White said about half way through the ride.

: Derek Wilbraham, right, his 9-year-old daughter Jenny and wife Sharon ride along Route 11 in Poland during the Dempsey Challenge on Sunday. The Wilbraham’s of bath rode 50 miles.