AU – TWO DAYS. 200 KILOMETRES. ONE EPIC RIDE.

“Why do we ride? Because our sweat is nothing compared to their tears! Our challenge is nothing compared to their fight, because we are all on the one journey to conquer cancer!”

This was the fourth annual Ride to Conquer Cancer held to raise much needed funds for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne – the only public hospital in Australia solely dedicated to cancer. Every year, over 28,000 Victorians develop cancer and over 10,000 deaths are as a result of cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of Australian deaths and affects almost 20% of our population.

The R2CC event this year attracted 829 dedicated riders who raised almost $3 million for cancer research.

On Friday 23^rd October the RRT Lilydale team assisted with preparing for the event. Setting up signage, preparing the tents, organising the car park and marking the route for the riders the following day.

Installing route marking signs in preparation for Day 1 of the Ride

On Saturday 24^th the RRT were back again from 5:00am with an even larger team, assisting with traffic control, rider registration and check-in, event flow and water hydration for the riders at Albert Park. They then helped with the cleaning up after the riders had left on their ‘EPIC’ journey.

The hydration stand was a great success

Another team left from Albert Park to mark the route from Mornington for the return journey the next day.

Another wave of riders about to embark on their journey

Part of the team then moved on to hand out water bottles to the hot and thirsty riders at Tyabb where they stopped for lunch and a short rest.

Yet another team made their way to Mornington, bringing food and drink and barbeques ready for the evening meal for the 829 triumphant riders, their amazing crew and all the volunteers. The tired and hungry riders were more than ready for a meal!

One of the eight BBQs used for cooking the evening meal

Between 3:30pm and 7:00pm RRT served a mammoth 1100 hamburgers with the lot, accompanied by coleslaw, pasta salad, quiches, hot chips and soft drinks. The RRT team members then brought trays of individual fruit salads and chocolate and vanilla mousse cups to the riders to enjoy as they relaxed and listened to the live entertainment.

 

One scrumptious meal – compliments of RRT!

Over seventy RRT members were included in this event and every one was fully committed to the cause. RRT Lilydale considered it a wonderful privilege to be involved in this incredible event which raises money for such a worthy cause.

 

Service with a smile!

The Crew and Volunteer Coordinator for the event sent the following note after the event:

“I want to say an enormous thank you for all the support RRT, and your team that came out, gave to The Ride to Conquer Cancer, it was such an amazing contribution. Your team was so amiable and hardworking, after the Friday, the site looked amazing and everything was completed well inside our time constraints. And Saturday morning was such a breeze due to having a great group and fantastic leaders. It was such a pleasure to work with you on this event! I hope the experience of the team on the ground was equally rewarding! 

The event raised a whopping $2.96 million for Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, all those funds go towards the ultimate cure of conquering cancer, once and for all. Your team played a huge part in that, it really does mean the world to so many people. 

 I have attached a certificate of appreciation for your team.

 On behalf of all the event staff, Peter Mac’s doctors and patients, and from all the riders, we thank you.”

Group photo