Charity ride helps kids
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RIDERS:
LSET Al Winning, ABET Michael Backrack and LSET Jason Clark
on their bikes riding past HMAS Canberra.
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Photo:
LSPH Phillip ‘Rex’ Hunt
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By
Michael Brooke
Sixteen
crew of HMAS Canberra have completed a gruelling 272 km charity
bike ride from Sydney to Canberra to raise funds for The Canberra
Hospital’s paediatrics and child health department.
The charity ride left Sydney on July 20 and arrived two-stop-overs
later in Canberra on July 22, a day before ship’s company exercised
their Freedom of Entry through the city.
The cyclists did the charity ride to bring a little happiness
to the lives of sick children at Canberra Hospital. The ride represents
the crew’s last community relations exercise before their ship
is decommissioned later this year. HMAS Canberra also played the
ACT Veterans in a charity rugby match at RMC oval last Sunday.
Team co-ordinator CPOET Tony Doherty said funds raised from the
charity bike ride would be used to buy new entertainment equipment
and educational tools for the children that stay there.
“Heaps of sailors put their hands up to take part in the charity
ride because of the benefits it would bring sick children but
we had to cut down the numbers,” he said.
CPO Doherty said the cyclists completed the ride in three-stages,
with the first stop-over in Mittagong last Wednesday evening,
where they were welcomed by the local RSL.
From Mittagong the cyclists rode to Goulburn, where they stopped
for the night.
From Goulburn, the cyclists pedalled to Canberra, where they met
up with the rest of ship’s company in time to exercise Freedom
of Entry The CO of Canberra, CMDR Ray Leggatt, said the cyclists
had trained hard for the charity event, particularly during their
recent deployment to Asia.
Many sailors had taken bikes with them and ridden ashore in China,
South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
“They also rode their bikes in Mackay on their way to Exercise
Talisman Sabre,” he said.
Canberra is scheduled to be decommissioned after 24 years service
later this year in Western Australia where she is homeported.
