Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a Cancer patient’s charity in Boston received its biggest donation ever from the annual fund-raising bicycle ride.

The Jimmy Fund, which supports Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, received $26 million from the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge during a ceremony at Harvard Medical School. In August, 4,300 cyclists rode up to 192 miles across the state and raised what organizers contend is the largest sum by an athletic fund-raising event.

Nearly 43-hundred cyclists participated in the event in August and this year’s total is up by $3 million dollars from last year.

This year’s fund-raising pushes to $171 million the total brought in by the event.

“It really allows us to make a major investment in research,” said Edward J. Benz Jr., president of Dana-Farber.

“The PMC monies allow us to cover research expenses that are not well covered by federal grants,” Benz said, citing major pieces of equipment, start-up costs for recruiting scientists, and clinical and applied research, as examples.

“Without the PMC, we would really struggle to meet our mission,” Benz said. “It allows us to operate at a level of excellence and size that would be very difficult to achieve if it weren’t there.”

Dana-Farber relies heavily on unrestricted fund-raising. The Challenge’s contributions account for more than half of the unrestricted funds Dana-Farber has received from all sources, Benz said.