Paddlers Test Their Limits to Fight Cancer

More than 1.8 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2020, and more than 600,000 people die from the disease in the United States each year. The impact of cancer is felt far and wide, leaving a void in the lives of those who have lost loved ones. That void is what led to the creation of the Doug Benson Dam Dam Paddle Challenge at Lake Gaston in 2009.

Doug Benson was brilliant and humble, a biochemist, business owner and family man from eastern North Carolina. “Just an incredible human that loved family and friends,” said his stepson, Bill Lovelace. “He was a humble person. Big mind, big heart. I don’t know anyone who didn’t like Doug.”

Doug was in his early 50s when he was diagnosed with lung cancer and then brain cancer. “It came out of nowhere and he passed within about 120 days of diagnosis,” Bill recalled. “It was an empty void that our family suddenly had to absorb. There was a lot of frustration in dealing with the aftermath of cancer.”

Looking for positive ways to channel their frustration and energy, Bill and a group of local paddlers, also impacted by cancer, decided to organize an endurance event – a challenging event that would require focus and tenacity. They put together a grassroots paddle challenge – an opportunity for stand up, kayak, canoe and dory paddlers to test their limits via a 32-mile event, paddling Lake Gaston from Kerr Dam to Gaston Dam, while raising money for the American Cancer Society along the way. For the past 12 years, Lake Gaston businesses, water support teams and paddlers have all worked together to make the event a sustained success.

This fall’s 12th annual Doug Benson Dam Dam Paddle Challenge featured 31 paddlers completing 667 total miles, producing the highest number of participants in event history as well as raising almost $6,000. Paddlers launched at 8 a.m. from Kerr Dam for the five-mile “up the river” option alongside paddlers participating in the full 32-miler. Additional paddlers launched at 1 p.m. from AF Wake | Eaton Ferry Bridge for the nine-mile option. According to Bill, “It was an epic 82-degree October day on Lake Gaston!”

The event, organized and held in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic when many other events had to be cancelled, demonstrated the ongoing commitment to make an impact in the fight against cancer. Cancer hasn’t stopped, and neither have the participants in the Doug Benson Dam Dam Paddle Challenge.

"We would like to thank all those who participated in this year's paddle challenge for their support, especially in this tough year,” said Jon Charest, community development manager for the American Cancer Society. “Their determination to continue the fight against cancer is incredible! The funds raised will make a big impact on those battling cancer and support life-saving research."

While reflecting on his stepfather and the origin of the Doug Benson Dam Dam Paddle Challenge, Bill emphasized that the event is about far more than one person. “I’m also thinking about the hundreds of people that have participated over the years that have a story just as I’m sharing with you,” Bill said. “There are a lot of people who have been going after it, year after year, that have similar stories.”

One of those is Andrew Daniel, who got involved with the event in its second year. “At that point I thought I was in shape and could do anything,” Andrew recalled with a chuckle. “I miserably failed that first year. I did finish, but it took me 12 hours that first year. I’ve finished every year.” Andrew, whose personal best is now at just over six hours and whose average finishing time is around eight hours, participated on a paddle board for the first 10 years he was involved. This year he and his wife, Amber, participated together in a canoe.

What propels someone to push through 12 hours and 32 miles on a paddle board? For Andrew, it’s the memory of his dad.

“I lost my dad to brain cancer when I was seven,” Andrew said. “That’s my drive every year to finish and for my fundraising. It’s all for Gerald Daniel, my dad. My mom, Allison, had breast cancer as well, in 2011. She beat it and she’s still here with us.

“There are a lot of families, and a lot of other people, who get involved and are impacted by cancer,” Andrew continued. “It’s called the Doug Benson Dam Dam Challenge, but everybody out there has been touched by cancer – losing someone to cancer. We all have our own reasons to be out there.”