LEWISTON — About 31 percent of the donations raised by the Dempsey Challenge will go toward the event’s operating expenses, a spokesman said Friday.

The one-day race, held Oct. 4, featured about 3,500 bicyclists, runners and walkers and raised money for the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center.

On the day of the race, hospital spokesman Chuck Gill said about 50 percent of the more than $1 million raised would go toward the cost of the event.

“I was wrong and should have known better,” Gill said Friday. “But I was exhausted and I just gave a number, as kind of an aside, and then that became a big deal. It’s my own mistake.”

About two weeks after the event, Peter Chalke, president and CEO of Central Maine Healthcare, the parent company of CMMC, told the Sun Journal that between 20 and 30 percent of revenue would go toward operating expenses.

Gill said Friday that donations were still coming in, so the percentage may get lower than the 31 percent estimate.

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“The expenses of the event were covered by the donations of the corporate sponsors,” he said. “All the money the participants raised, 100 percent of that went to the Dempsey Center.”

Total revenue, including corporate sponsorship, was $1,045,925, as of more than a week ago, Gill said. Asked how much money was donated by corporate sponsors, Gill said, “more than 31 percent.”

“I don’t know the exact number, but it’s more than $300,000,” he said.

Gill said event costs will make up a lower percentage of revenue in future years.

“We had some first-time expenses this year,” he said. “The revenue should be higher in other years. We now think we can accommodate more (participants), so the revenue for the event will definitely go up in the future.”

rmetzler@sunjournal.com


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