After holding the Dempsey Challenge virtually last year, coordinators have arranged a hybrid event this year, which includes in-person and virtual components. In-person participants will spend the weekend running, walking and cycling through Lewiston.

Actor and Lewiston native Patrick Dempsey founded the Dempsey Center in 2008 to provide help and services, such as support groups and counseling, for cancer patients and their families. A year later, Dempsey led the first official Dempsey Challenge, which has been an annual fundraiser ever since. To date, the challenge has raised $16 million, according to the center’s website.

The center announced last year that it would not be holding an in-person challenge due to the pandemic. Lee Nelson, a member of the center’s board of directors, noted the disease is known to be especially dangerous to people with compromised immune systems, which is a particular concern among the center’s community.

“We are very, very cognizant of that,” he said.

But the center didn’t cancel the event. Instead, like similar charity events in 2020, it evolved into a virtual version, allowing people to register online. Participants raised $1.2 million, which is about what coordinators expect to raise with an in-person event, Davis said.

“We had amazing success,” she said.

Other charity races have also had to adapt to the pandemic with virtual events. Last month, the annual Beach to Beacon 5k road race, which usually takes place in Cape Elizabeth, was held virtually instead. Turnout topped 2,000 people, less than the numbers the race usually has, but the point was to return to some sort of event after canceling the race altogether in 2020.

“It’s a way for us, the race organizers, to stay in touch with our running community,” David Backer, president of the Beach to Beacon board of directors, said at the time.

For this year’s Dempsey Challenge, coordinators are allowing people to participate virtually again if they wish, and Davis said so far, more than 500 people have signed up from around the world. 

“They can do the event anywhere, at any time,” she said.

Nelson praised organizers at the center for coordinating such a complex version of the annual event.

“It’s been an incredible challenge,” he said. “The team is just unbelievable.”

Participants still get a T-shirt and bib, just as if they had come to participate in person. Davis said people are choosing to exercise in all sorts of ways. In addition to runners, walkers and cyclists, Davis said some are kayaking, and one person from California hiked 200 miles for the fundraiser.

“It’s so fun to see all the ways people are participating in the challenge,” she said.

There will be in-person components, too, all based at Simard-Payne Memorial Park in Lewiston. On Saturday, registrants will take part in a 5k run or walk, or a 10k run. On Sunday, cyclists can participate in one of four different rides, with routes spanning 25, 50, 65 and 100 miles. All of the rides originate at the park.

Nelson said the center is taking precautions such as asking participants to be masked. Also, he said, “we’re doing staggered start times this year to eliminate big crowds at the starting line.”

Organizers are hoping to raise $1.5 million, and as of Friday the event has raised more than $1.3 million, Nelson said.

“We’re very pleased with the way it’s gone,” he said.