By Callum Ludwig
The Eastern 80 charity bike ride is coming up on Saturday 18 February, with all funds raised set to go to the Good Friday Appeal for the Royal Childrens Hospital (RCH).
Normally each year, the event has had a local ambassador family who has benefited from the support of the RCH and this year there is still a chance to reach out and let them know of anyone in your life who would be a fitting choice for an ambassador.
Event organiser Norm Orr said the event is largely to support the Royal Children’s Hospital but they’ve been happy to highlight locals
“We want to highlight them because their illnesses or problems are the things that will be researched and supported,” he said.
“The hospital not only looks after Victorians, but lots of people in New South Wales or South Australia that come over, and there’s probably not many families in Victoria who haven’t had some association with the Royal Children’s Hospital.”
In 2022, as many as 70 riders from near and as far as Mildura, Frankston and Bacchus March took on the challenge, with a final fundraising total of over $10,000.
Mr Orr said it would be nice to see more Warburton people involved.
“We have people who come from far out such as family members from Bacchus March who’ve supported us each year, and it’d be nice to see a lot more Warburton people being involved,” he said.
“When we started, it was more or less family and friends but we’ve actually reached the 100 [participants] mark before. We had that target because if there are 100 people putting in $100 each, that would raise our $10,000 which we’re very happy with.”
In eight years of existence, the annual ride has raised $80,000, consistently raising around $10,000 and Mr Orr wants to continue the trend and hit $100,000 on its ten-year anniversary. The initiative started when Mr Orr was frustrated to see Warburton with no donations on the Good Friday Appeal board and sought to change that and inspire people to donate.
The ride begins at the Cog Bike Cafe in Warburton, with options to walk or ride. Groups of cyclists often ride 50km to the Seville Carriage Cafe and back, or the full 80km to the end of the Warburton Rail Trail in Lilydale before returning. Walkers can go for 9km of the journey.
Anyone interested or who may wish to contact Mr Orr about a potential ambassador can go to the Eastern80 page on Facebook for further information and can register via the link : www.try booking.com/CEAKQ.
Children under 16 are not required to pay unless they would like to donate.
