By Ron Lane
IN May this year, members of a group who had organised a fund-raising function that we were attending on the verandah of the Noosa Surf Club, said that as part of this fund-raising they also intended to do a charity bike ride from Coffs Harbor to Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club – probably in August.
The purpose of this was to continue their drive to raise money in support of an organisation known as The K.I.D.S. Foundation.
According to the annual report for 2014/15, K.I.D.S. (Kids In Dangerous Situations.) – which was formed in 1993 by Ballarat-based former primary school teacher Suzie O’Neill – is dedicated to childhood injury prevention and injury recovery.
Well, proud to say that is exactly what they did.
Last week some of the riders finished their epic journey on the grass outside the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club. Among those were three of our local surf club fraternity, Donald McKill of the Noosa Club, and Christy Johnston and Sheldon Schultz of Sunshine.
Donald, who had previously worked as master of ceremonies for the May function, said: “We are more than happy with the overall result. There were 25 riders started out, and a support group of 10; and to top it off – fantastic weather. Also members of the GIANT Cycle Team were heavily involved. Giant is a major sponsor of the K.I.D.S. and they were part of the ride. They also assisted in traffic control and course co-ordination. The ride got hairy at times and they did a great job keeping us all safe”.
The course was set mainly inland. This was, as much as possible, to keep riders off the main highways. It was, in the words of McKill, “very hilly but very beautiful”. There was a good mixture of riders with entries from Melbourne, Sydney, Gold and Sunshine Coasts.
Day one saw the riders cover a distance of 140km from Coffs Harbor to Myrtle Creek Casino, day two 110km Myrtle Creek to Byron Bay hinterland, day three 180km Byron Bay hinterland to Spring Fields Lakes, South Brisbane, day four 160km Spring Field Lakes to Kilcoy and the last day, day five 140km Kilcoy to Noosa. This gives the riders in the vicinity of 730-plus kilometres.
Christy Johnston, who for 21 years has been a teacher at Mathew Flinders College and spends her summer weekends as a volunteer Level 1 surf carnival official for Sunshine Beach, said: “The 730km was a long way but it is for a great cause. We were hoping to raise in the vicinity of $50,000 but all indications are that we have achieved $169,000 – really outstanding, makes all the aches and pains worthwhile”.
On arrival at Noosa’s Main Beach, riders were guests at a big barbecue and refreshments organised by Noosa Surf Club members Anton Mogg, Big Peter Williams and Ken Edwards.
This was a follow-on to their work on the original fund-raising night on the verandah of the Surf Club in May.
It has been estimated that 5000 children a day are injured in Australia and have to attend an emergency department. Of these 200 will stay in hospital and, by the law of averages, one will die.
Sad to relate, among the list of injuries are many cases of severe burns. On the cover of the K.I.D.S. annual report there is a message from a group of children that reads: “Accept me for who I am, inspire me to achieve my dreams, give me courage to allow me to grow, and teach me to be safe – or how will I know?”
To those involved organisers, support team, riders and above all the sponsors, many thanks for a worthy cause. Among those, happy to say, were our three riders McKill, Johnston and Schultz plus workers Mogg, Williams and Edwards – these six are Our People.
