The Rivers & Red Dirt Ride on 29 April kicked off in Cooma and travelled across the mountains and plains through NSW, Victoria and South Australia, finishing in Bathurst. The group enjoyed exploring some new roads and spreading the word about research into a cure for childhood cancer. To date the group has raised more than $36,000 – what an amazing effort.

 

The ride began in Cooma with a BBQ breakfast provided by High Country Auto, the local Cooma Hyundai dealer, arranged through SWCCF’s platinum partner Hyundai Help for Kids. It travelled across the NSW Alps to Victoria and overnight in Echuca. A paddlesteamer cruise the next morning became a fundraising event for the ride. The next day the ride continued to Hay for an overnight stop and then onto Renmark in South Australia. The next day took the crew through long open spaces with few towns and service centres before ending up in Broken Hill where there were two nights to explore the region. It was then onto Cobar and to an open cut mine, before heading to Bathurst for the final day. A highlight was a lap of the Mountain on bikes.

 

A total of 10 motorcycles and five support crew took on the ride with 15 people participating to raise the $36,000. Special thanks to Kathy Manthey for her efforts in organising and leading the ride.

 

   

 

Executives from one of our long term sponsors, Snowy Hydro, recently toured toured Sydney Children’s Hospital and the Steven Walter Laboratory at the Children’s Cancer Institute.

Guided by Professor Glenn Marshall, it was a great opportunity to check in with one of the Snowy Hydro Family Program beneficiaries, Gabe, who was visiting the hospital for some routine check ups.

They also got a great look at the research underway in the Steven Walter Laboratory at the Children’s Cancer Institute.

Our thanks to Snowy Hydro for its support of the vital research to ensure we meet our goal of 100% survival for all children diagnosed with cancer and the prevention of their suffering.

The Around Australia Ride raising funds for Steven Walter Children’s Cancer Foundation is on again in 2018. The ride is planned for May/June with availability for up to 35 riders and pillions.

The plan is to leave Sydney in early May 2018 and arrive back early June 2018 meaning you will be away for approximately 33 nights. We will leave from and return to Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.  The longest day will  be 830kms (Broome to Karratha) and the shortest is 280kms Perth to Margaret River.  There will be five rest days spaced over the 33 days and four or five roadside fuel stops where the distance between roadhouses is too great.  The maximum distance between fuel stops will be around 220kms.  We will have three support vehicles, including a bike trailer, and will be able to carry some extra gear for each person (small gear bag). The support crew are all volunteers and cover their own costs the same as riders.

Accommodation and some meals are pre-booked and to take part we ask that every rider raises $5,000 prior to departure. There’s 15,000kms to enjoy the scenery and meet some fantastic Aussies in the process. Once our required numbers have been reached we will be asking for a $500 deposit from riders and $250 deposit from pillions to cover cost of sourcing and booking accommodation, logbooks with maps and running the support vehicles.  Our Fundraising Tool Kit is available to help with ideas and we’re here to support you wherever we can.

Want to know more or register your interest? Get in touch via email admin@stevenwalterfoundation.org.au or call (02) 9542 5885.