The 2009 Yellow Pages™ Cairns to Cooktown Cardiac Challenge was even more successful than in previous years. This charity ride will be 4 years old this year, and has seen remarkable growth, both in rider numbers and fundraising since its inception in 2007.

The 2009 ride saw over 170 riders participate, challenging themselves to ride from Cairns to Cooktown over three days, a distance of xxxkm. We gathered at Cazaley’s AFL club at 5:30am on the Saturday morning, where we received our last instructions, and rode en masse to Smithfield, where the less hardy riders caught a lift up the Kuranda Range. There were a number of riders determined to take on this demanding climb, which was dominated by xxxx, who was clocked at a steady 20+kph for the duration of the steep 8km climb.

Regrouping at the top of the range, we then formed into our nominated packs (Heartless, Sweethearts, Heartbreakers... the Cardiac theme dominated the weekend!), and rode into Mareeba. The local Rotary Club provided the necessary carbs for the remainder of the day’s riding, as well as a cuppa, a shady spot, and smiling faces to motivate us to continue. Local service clubs, schools and the CWA all chipped in over the three days to feed and water us along the route. We are very grateful for their hospitality and support, and their encouragement to continue each day’s ride.

Passing through the remote areas that lie inland between Cairns and Cooktown reinforced to us the importance of our fundraising, and how invaluable the work of the FNQ Hospital Foundation is in supporting health in the Far North. We passed near and through a number of remote communities, who travel for hours to reach health care. In 2009, over $200,000 was raised by rider and sponsors, enabling the Foundation to purchase a GE Vivid Echo 7 Ultrasound Scanner for the Cardiac Unit at Cairns Base Hospital. This equipment means that patients requiring this kind of diagnostic examination do not have to leave this region. Each year, in consultation with the hospital’s cardiac specialists and the Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, we set our sights on equipment that becomes our fundraising target.

Not only have we achieved something remarkable by providing the people of the Far North with this important equipment, but we had a fantastic time on the road together for three days. The Army Reserve boys and other volunteers who drove escort vehicles, also spurred us on between drink stops, filled water bottles, handed out lollies and museli bars, and gave us reasons to laugh when we were hot, tired and sore. We also heard first hand from the specialists that will use this equipment about the difference it wil l make to the care that they are able to offer their patients.

The feeling of having trained for such a ride, and achieved the goal as we rode into Cooktown as massive single pack is most gratifying, and gave me goosebumps! We are very fortunate to be a part of such a positive cycling community, and to be able to make a difference in some small way to the lives of Far North Queenslanders.

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