From left: Robert Chippindall, David Jurss (rider), Geoff Kennedy, Kaye Jurss, Karen Brown, Robert Gwyne, Jean Shore, Tony Carauana, Cheryl Chippindall, Bill Shore and David Brown.
By Kath Gannaway
HEALESVILLE Rotarians are known for their enthusiasm to take on a challenge.
But riding 18,000 kilometres, over 204 days, around Australia, on bikes – that would be madness.
When it was put to the 50 and 60somethings that they do just that for Australian Rotary Health to raise awareness for mental health issues and support ARH research programs, it became just the sort of challenge they couldn’t refuse.
“Yeah, we can do that,” summed up the response, according to ride director, Healesville Rotarian Geoff Kennedy.
Healesville Rotary provided most of the support crew for the epic ride and some of the riders.
Mr Kennedy and his wife Jennifer and David and Karen Brown were there for the whole journey and Colin and Josephine Johanson and Robert and Cheryl Chippindall completed more than half. Many other Rotarians joined the ride providing short-term support.
Starting at Mornington on 21 March, and finishing in Melbourne on Saturday 10 October – World Mental Health Day – the concept was to travel through every state, every Rotary District and include as many Rotary clubs as possible while riding anti-clockwise around Australia.
“It seemed pretty simple,” said Mr Kennedy. “Get a few riders, some good road bikes, some support vehicles and drivers, feed them, accommodate them … let’s go!”.
“The detail was a little more planned than that,” he concedes.
He said 74 people took part in the first week in Tasmania, travelling down through the west coast towns of Queenstown and Strahan … “Just to get the riders used to a few decent hills.”
Thirty-four riders returned to Melbourne and set off through Healesville, then out through Chum Creek on their way to Sydney.
Mr Kennedy said the trip was punctuated with lots of punctures and shredded tyres because of glass and metal fragments on the road.
Wet-weather gear not a high priority, with just five days affected by rain and resulting in the normal daily average of 110 kilometres reduced to 50 or 60.
“It rained in Townsville on day 66, and again on day 146 near Perth,” Mr Kennedy said.
“The longest day’s riding was 193 kilometres into Derby and the most enjoyable was the 146 kilometres straight stretch on the Nullarbor with constant speeds of 40km/h thanks to a strong tail wind,” he said.
Having been tagged with the nick-name “the old codger”, Mr Kennedy said he was extremely proud of his 20km breakaway from the pack into Eucla on the WA/SA border.
Other highlights were the whales in the Bight, the animals, bird life, wildflowers in Western Australia, and the enormous variation in vegetation and terrain, all, he said, experienced at an average speed of about 25km/h.
“The work of the support crew was amazing and sponsors such as Winnebago, Shimano, Trek, Toyota, Anaconda and Waeco was outstanding,” Mr Kennedy said.
Four riders completed the whole journey with many others joining in to each of the nine stages,” Mr Kennedy said.
The meals were also amazing thanks to a recruit, Tony Carauana, who signed on for a six-week leg, then joined the ride again in Kalgoorlie for the duration.
Thirty-four rode from Adelaide to Melbourne on the last stage of the ride with another 40 riders joining in on the last day.
As with any “road trip” there was what Mr Kennedy describes as “a certain degree of irreverent behaviour” along the way.
While actual details are sketchy, the most memorable included a mock wedding ceremony at Bookabie Hall involving “Chippolina”, the Baptism of the first Born, and a most solemn funeral service for the demise of the Great Australian Bike Ride.
“Even in the last few kilometres into Melbourne a rapid driver change took place under police escort to allow David Brown to ride in with his wife Karen,” Mr Kennedy said.
“Karen rode over 10,000 kilometres as well as being a support driver, the last few kilometres with a painful shoulder injury.”
Mail readers, who caught up with the ride in previous articles, may remember Karen bemoaning her sore backside for most of the trip.
She did eventually find relief, she told the Mail last week – a special pair of cycling pants, which she said transformed the experience for her.
Unfortunately, she didn’t make that discovery until Adelaide.
Mr Kennedy said there were very few injuries along the way, more than $200,000 was raised and, most importantly, the issue of mental health within the community was given a high profile.
The riders and crew received a warm welcome back to Melbourne and were given a civic reception at Melbourne Town Hall where Mr Kennedy was presented with the prestigious Australian Rotary Health Annual Medal by ARH chairman Terry Lees.
