Firstly let me apologise for not getting this done on Monday straight after the Ride.    Like everyone I am sure we have been inundated with emails and all the office stuff that happens when you are away and catch up seems to have been unobtainable this week.

However, all absolutely worth every bit of it after a superb week of fun, laughter, support and caring with an amazing group of people.

Euphoria is the best way to describe our final resting place in Mandurah – a huge day on Friday with 3 school stops in Bunbury Senior High, Australind Senior High and then Halls Head College in Mandurah finally finishing with a Civic Reception at the Performing Arts Centre in Mandurah with Alcoa hosting us and a number of VIP’s attending together with others from within the sector.  

Looking back on the day one thing I can surely say is the whole peleton ate well, in fact they seem to eat constantly at every stop we made – I did hear one rider say that if he saw another muffin he would die and we will certainly take that on board for next year’s Ride!  Foooood fooood and more fooood with yet another fabulous dinner planned in the evening.

We headed off to the Hogs Breath Café walking what Micky G described as just down the road, or some walked I certainly was lucky enough to drive as I was determined to finish my blog on Friday night and get it off, so the taxi arrived specially to take me!

The staff at Hogs Breath stayed on – however, what a fantastic night, fines were flowing, our reserves arrived – Gavin Marsh, Richard Bevan, Gabriel Moreno and Mark Welsh to ride the last leg with us into Fremantle – it was great to see these guys and the fine master didn’t miss them either!     The food (again) was terrific and the service from the staff fantastic – the restaurant cleared and the giving of the last night of jerseys was an emotional and wonderful experience for all of us.

The winners on the last night were – Pete Young won King of the Mountain as a first time rider and was very emotional on his achievement as well as the opportunity of speaking to the school students along the way, then came Strongman and our illustrious Event Director was recognized and given a standing ovation by the riders which sent poor Micky G into an emotional spin and finally the fun award of the night, the Poona – too long to explain how this came about but young Cliff Rocke very gallantly wore it with pride on Saturday after raising a large amount of money which he proudly informed the peleton that “he would wear it with pride and you lot haven’t been able to wear it and raise money from it” – he assured us he would stretch it to fit on the suitcase overnight!

Jenny announced that we were pushing the $700,000 mark and that we had to wait for tomorrow to get the final amount which was some $728,000 and still more coming in so stay tuned for this most amazing effort from everyone – it is mind boggling and I would personally like to congratulate not only the riders but the fantastic committee this year who took hold of this year’s event and really put out under the very capable leadership of Pete Trench.   Also the families who gave so much for those last 6 months – thank you.

Speaking of Pete Trench his speech during the night was fantastic and he involved many people throughout this process who spoke to the riders and support crew from their perspective.   For instance, new riders, committee, fundraising master, coaches, old rider, support crew and so on – it was wonderful and everyone really enjoyed this – the air of togetherness was never so great.    Everyone is feeling good about arriving in Fremantle tomorrow and seeing family and friends and celebrating their enormous achievements over the past 5 days, both personal and making a difference to some 1,500 young people who we have touched in our 9 school visits.

SATURDAY

A few sore heads and little sleep but everyone ready to rock and roll on the last part of this amazing journey via PCYC in Hilton for a reception and sausage sizzle (see what I mean) where Peter Trench was the rider addressing the young people and others attending.    Then it was forward and onward to our final destination and that funny feeling of it all being over for another year.

Adrian Barich was our MC and he announced to the crowd that the riders were about to arrive in the next 1 minute – a great buzz went up and the riders flew down the cappa strip and turned the corner to the sounds of Chariots of Fire, a huge arch and a ticker tape welcome – some cried, some laughed and some said they just had goose bumps.   For me it is always emotional as I am always the forward scout normally making sure the food is there and ready for them, keys in doors etc and this time I was on the other end of welcome.     What a great finish and I am sure like me, life changing and every year it just gets better.

Speeches, Welcome to Country from Rev Sealin Garlett, and acceptance of jerseys of all 11 team sponsors and Hawaiian, our naming sponsor of the Ride since its inception.  

Jerseys were proudly presented by our illustrious Chairman, Geoff Rasmussen and the Mayor of Fremantle, Brad Pettit, Hawaiian our Major Sponsor and to our Team Sponsors Avoca, Bank of Queensland,  Budget, Cardno, Cliffs Natural Resources, ENJO, GCS, Mirvac, Perrott Painting, Perth Airport and Redink Homes – for the riders and Youth Focus this is a very proud moment.

Lunch and being joined by family and friends was terrific – food was great and Certificates of Appreciation were presented to all riders and support crew together with goody bags for the children and especially a bag of goods for the wives and partners of the riders in appreciation of what they have done to allow this unbelievable achievement of funding and creating awareness and prevention of youth suicide over these past months.

A tired and very happy group of people departed the Town Hall at Fremantle, wheeling bikes, carrying bags and returning to life after the Ride.

Here I must offer my thanks to the support crew who very somberly drove back to Youth Focus where we proceeded to unpack, take off those huge sticky signs on Buzz’s vans, sort out who owned what and then fill up and drop Budget’s vehicles back to station – a huge thank you to Buzz for again allowing us this great support and also to Bank of Queensland for their BOQ Mini, a very necessary part of the support vehicles that keep our riders safe each year.

So from me, your blogger, Easter is on the horizon, enjoy and I look forward to catching up with all the riders in a short while.     From all the emails we have received I am sure we will have many of you riding again next year and we look forward to your continuing Ambassadorship of Youth Focus over the coming months – our warmest thanks please keep pushing the message – it does make a difference to so many lives.

Jenny, the “Blogger”