Shrewsbury Residents Running Boston Marathon To Conquer Cancer

SHREWSBURY, MA — Meagan Gemborys, Christopher Knight, Susan Langlois and Joanne Lavin are running to conquer cancer as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team in the 125th Boston Marathon on Oct. 11.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team will run in-person this year and will also field a virtual team, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with more than 300 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge teammates from across the United States and around the world, they will run Massachusetts’ historic marathon route from Hopkinton to Boston to collectively raise $5 million for cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This year marks the 32nd annual running of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC). One hundred percent of the money raised by the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team benefits Dana-Farber’s Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which supports promising science research in its earliest stages. The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge has raised more than $100 million for the Barr Program to date.

In 1990, Dana-Farber was among the first charity organizations to be recognized by the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A), which organizes the Boston Marathon. The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team offers its members extensive fundraising support, training guidance from 1976 Boston Marathon Men’s Open Division Champion Jack Fultz and team training runs. Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners who are not time-qualified for the Boston Marathon receive an invitational entry into the race.

Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runners include cancer survivors and patients, and family and friends of those who have been affected by cancer. Each team member must fulfill a basic fundraising commitment:

• Invitational runners - runners who receive their entry from Dana-Farber have a fundraising commitment of $7,500.
• Own entry runners ­- runners who have joined the DFMC after obtaining their own race entry have a fundraising commitment of $4,000.
• Virtual runners - runners participating in the Virtual Boston Marathon have a fundraising commitment of $4,000.

To contribute to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, visit RunDFMC.org or contact the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge office at 617-632-1970 or dfmc@dfci.harvard.edu. Follow DFMC on Facebook.

About Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

From achieving the first remissions in cancer with chemotherapy in 1948, to developing the very latest new therapies, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world’s leading centers of cancer research and treatment. It is the only center ranked in the top 4 of U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospitals for both adult and pediatric cancer care.