Cycling for good health
Getting ready to leave the Clare Showgrounds are Wayne and Nicola Edwards, Judy Searley and Ray Hutchinson all of Auburn.
Getting ready to leave the Clare Showgrounds are Wayne and Nicola Edwards, Judy Searley and Ray Hutchinson all of Auburn.
A team of cyclists is hoping to raise the awareness about mental health as it rides 17,800 kilometres around Australia.
Supported by Australian Rotary Health, the cyclists have been joined by local cyclists as they
raise funds for health promotions and research.
Stopping in Clare on Tuesday, September 22, riders were welcomed by the Clare Rotary Club
with a hot meal in the brick pavilion at the Clare Showgrounds and riders were billeted out to families in Clare to relax and have a good night’s sleep.
Several keen cyclists from the Clare Valley joined the ride that started at the Clare Showgrounds on September 23 at 8am.
The riders included Nicola and Wayne Edwards of Auburn, Judy Searley of Auburn and Ray
Hutchinson also of Auburn.
Although the morning was cold, wet and windy, the riders battled on and headed off to Kapunda.
“The ride was very good, we had about three showers and the wind was quite hard, Marrabel to
Kapunda was the hardest as there was side wind and every time I came to a hill the wind was
against you,” Nicola said. The GABR is a nine-stage ride around Australia, it began on March 21 in Melbourne and will finish back in Melbourne on October 10.
Some of the riders had been on the ride since the beginning of the event and found themselves to be reasonably fit, tired, but keen to push on for the remainder of the trip.
“We all really enjoyed the ride and the other riders were very friendly. After the ride we went and
had lunch in the venue in the oval supplied by the Rotary Club of Kapunda,” Nicola said.
Autralian Rotary Health is the largest non-government funding body of mental health research
programs in Australia.
One in five Australians had a mental illness in 2007 and almost one in two (or 7.3 million) people
have experienced a mental illness at some point in their lives.(Australian Bureau of Statistics,
Australian Social Trends, March 2009) The World Health Organisation estimates that
by 2020 depression will be one of the world’s greatest health problems.
Getting ready to leave the Clare Showgrounds are Wayne and Nicola Edwards, Judy Searley and Ray Hutchinson all of Auburn.
The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council Tour Down Under Steering Committee
is working to create entry statements for all towns on the tour route.
The committee needs more bikes to create the entry statements which will comprise straw bales
with signage, topped with painted bikes.
“We need more old road bikes – skinny awkward looking bikes, because they look fantastic, especially silhouetted, up high and from a distance,” Clare and Gilbert Valleys Councillor Helen Perry said.
On Wednesday September 23 the Great Australian Bike Ride passed through Clare picking
up riders on its way to Kapunda, the group decided to donate an old bike picked up at Carnavon from the side of the road.
“The woman’s bike they have given us was picked up by the road somewhere over near
Carnavon in north western Western Australia, and the team have carried it on their bike trailer
all this way – probably 6000km at least,” she said.
Ms Perry said the bike would be given pride of place at the southern entrance to Clare.
If you have an old bike you would like to donate call Helen on 0417 714 151 or email her on hrperry@bigpond.net.au
Supported by Australian Rotary Health, the cyclists have been joined by local cyclists as they
raise funds for health promotions and research.
Stopping in Clare on Tuesday, September 22, riders were welcomed by the Clare Rotary Club
with a hot meal in the brick pavilion at the Clare Showgrounds and riders were billeted out to families in Clare to relax and have a good night’s sleep.
Several keen cyclists from the Clare Valley joined the ride that started at the Clare Showgrounds on September 23 at 8am.
The riders included Nicola and Wayne Edwards of Auburn, Judy Searley of Auburn and Ray
Hutchinson also of Auburn.
Although the morning was cold, wet and windy, the riders battled on and headed off to Kapunda.
“The ride was very good, we had about three showers and the wind was quite hard, Marrabel to
Kapunda was the hardest as there was side wind and every time I came to a hill the wind was
against you,” Nicola said. The GABR is a nine-stage ride around Australia, it began on March 21 in Melbourne and will finish back in Melbourne on October 10.
Some of the riders had been on the ride since the beginning of the event and found themselves to be reasonably fit, tired, but keen to push on for the remainder of the trip.
“We all really enjoyed the ride and the other riders were very friendly. After the ride we went and
had lunch in the venue in the oval supplied by the Rotary Club of Kapunda,” Nicola said.
Autralian Rotary Health is the largest non-government funding body of mental health research
programs in Australia.
One in five Australians had a mental illness in 2007 and almost one in two (or 7.3 million) people
have experienced a mental illness at some point in their lives.(Australian Bureau of Statistics,
Australian Social Trends, March 2009) The World Health Organisation estimates that
by 2020 depression will be one of the world’s greatest health problems.
Getting ready to leave the Clare Showgrounds are Wayne and Nicola Edwards, Judy Searley and Ray Hutchinson all of Auburn.
The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council Tour Down Under Steering Committee
is working to create entry statements for all towns on the tour route.
The committee needs more bikes to create the entry statements which will comprise straw bales
with signage, topped with painted bikes.
“We need more old road bikes – skinny awkward looking bikes, because they look fantastic, especially silhouetted, up high and from a distance,” Clare and Gilbert Valleys Councillor Helen Perry said.
On Wednesday September 23 the Great Australian Bike Ride passed through Clare picking
up riders on its way to Kapunda, the group decided to donate an old bike picked up at Carnavon from the side of the road.
“The woman’s bike they have given us was picked up by the road somewhere over near
Carnavon in north western Western Australia, and the team have carried it on their bike trailer
all this way – probably 6000km at least,” she said.
Ms Perry said the bike would be given pride of place at the southern entrance to Clare.
If you have an old bike you would like to donate call Helen on 0417 714 151 or email her on hrperry@bigpond.net.au
