By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Working for Horizon Beverage, Holliston’s Nicole Inkpen has associated with clients and co-workers through the game of golf, but it wasn’t exactly how she wanted to go about it. 

Inkpen was looking for another way to connect, some other sort of athletic event. She found that there was a co-worker who had been participating in the Pan Mass Challenge over the last 6 years and decided to approach her to see if they could put together a team for the company.

Along with co-captain Caitlin McGarrahan, the two formed the Horizon Beverage team three years ago and astonishingly they were able to raise $90,000 for the PMC in their inaugural year riding for the event. 

“I play golf out of necessity for the business, but I find it very intimidating and unless you happen to play all the time you’re never going to get good,” Inkpen said. “Cycling is a lot less intimidating and can engage women more in bonding, with c-workers and customers.”

Just as the team was moving in a positive direction, Inkpen got the call that her father-in law was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.

“It really hit home as he was now going to Dana Farber to get treatment,” she said. “Things turned and now I felt that I had an entirely different purpose for this event.”

Inkpen went on to say that a lot of her cycling experience came from her father-in-law, who was an avid cyclist and passionate about the sport. He competed in numerous long distances challenges and although dealing with cancer, he still plans on taking part in the annual Washington Mountain Bike Climb (August 17) and gives her the inspiration to ride the PMC.

Over the first two years the team did the Wellesley to Provincetown route, but this year they are doing the full 192-mile ride Sturbridge to P-Town. Although this year’s ride will be a little longer than she has experienced in the past, its nothing compared to the first year she climbed upon her bike to help the cause at Dana Farber.

“My first-year riding in the PMC I have been told that it was the hottest on PMC record,” she said. “Veteran riders couldn’t believe the oppressiveness and humidity we had to endure that year. I guess we cut our teeth that year with the toughness.”

Inkpen’s co-captain McGarrahan told her that she’d take the cold rain any day over the heat they endured that first year as a team.

The Horizon Beverage team has hovered around 9 or 10 riders over the years and although they would like to expand, they know that would mean they’d have to expand on the fundraising as well.

Although getting ready to participate in her third PMC, Inkpen recalls how incredible the riders were to her during that first year.

“The riders really embrace one another and although they call out the newbies along the route, it’s the coolest thing being able to talk to different people as you ride,” she said. “Everyone is very welcoming and they bring a lot of energy and positivity to the event.”

The co-founder got emotional recalling riding up to a water stop and seeing the pictures of kids fighting cancer. It was when she realized that one of them was on her son’s soccer team from Holliston that it hit home.

“You never really know what is going on behind the scenes,” she said. “I didn’t know that there was a silent battle going on within my community and it just made this ride element even more important.”

By taking part in the PMC Inkpen believes that the event has opened many doors to meeting people and she hopes to continue with the team or at least individually as long as she can. 

“Cancer is ugly and there is nothing more heartbreaking than witnessing a family coming to terms with a diagnosis that gives little hope and makes a love one feel powerless in the ability to help,” Inkpen said. “I want to help contribute to a cause that can change through research and advancements making a difference for someone.”

She went on note that riding 160 plus miles on a bike over 48 hours feels at times like an insurmountable challenge but knowing that every dollar raised goes directly to Dana Farber means more positive outcomes and is worth every moment of pain and discomfort.