The Late Mail Postie Bike Ride made its triumphant return to Mudgee last Friday afternoon having traveled to the Queensland border and back and raising $102,000 for charity Wings 4 Kidz.
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The 1700-plus journey began in Cooyal on Saturday, September 17, heading through Gundy, Nundle, Manilla, Bingara, Garah and Mungindi before turning south to return via Moree, Burren Junction, Narrabri, Baan Baa, Mullaley, Binnaway, Mendooran and Gulgong before arriving in back in Mudgee last Friday.
Organiser Jason Turner said that the event – now in its third year – hasn’t lost any of its appeal with each year as there’s always something new.
“Every year we’re still having fun, we’re still enjoying it, we had some really good roads to ride on that gave us a lot of variety each day,” he said.
“We had trails and dirt, to hills and cornering, we had different styles of riding every day – we were all happy at tea at the end of the day which is the main thing.
“Every town we went to was very accepting and looked after us really well and on short notice too they were really accommodating.”
The $100,000-plus raised from the event will go to Wings 4 Kidz, a free flight service for children with serious and life threatening illnesses who need to travel to the major hospitals from regional areas for treatment.
Their aim is to lessen the significant burden and effect of long distance travel for these children and families by providing this and keeping families together during this difficult journey.
Mr Turner said that racking up the kilometres provides an insight into just how remote some communities can be and an appreciation of the work the charity provides.
“The areas we went through can certainly use the service Wings 4 Kidz provides, even the smaller towns with hospitals can’t provide the services and they’ve got to come to Sydney for treatment,” he said.
He added that the number of participants grew again this year and that it’s the people that make the journey memorable.
“We had an extra 10 people this year – about 49 in total,” he said.
“The personalities along the way were great. You’re constantly laughing, there’s a real variety of people.”
The Late Mail event has surpassed its fundraising target in each of its three years.
The original goal for the inaugural ride was to raise $30,000 and they collected $80,000, then last year they wanted to match the 2014 mark and got $100,000.
This year they set out for six figures again - and through the journey and the lead up events – reached their goal and then some once more.
You can still donate to the ride online at give.everydayhero.com/ au/2016
