Thirty-four cyclists and their support crew rolled into Dubbo on Sunday afternoon in a quest to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute.
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Each year the group of around 40 people make the 500 kilometre journey from the National Zoo and Aquarium of Canberra to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo as part of the Zoo2Zoo campaign.
So far the crew have raised $50,000 for the Black Dog Institute, and that figure is still rising.
Andrew McKay of Dubbo has organised the ride for the last 11 years and said the aim is to raise much-needed funds for the institute. It doubles as an opportunity to raise awareness of mental illness that affects one in five people.
“If someone has a broken arm you ask them if they’re okay, but people tend to shy away from mental illness,” Andrew said.
In hope of losing the stigma attached to mental illness the group – consisting of riders from Canberra, Dubbo and even Melbourne – strapped on their helmets and hit the road on Friday morning.
They passed through Young and Molong before arriving at Dubbo mid-afternoon on Sunday.
Mick Harvey, Kath Wilkinson, Mark Weir, Peter Singh, Peter Standish, Peter Whalan, Denis Sheridan, Rod Mildner, Chris Roche, Stuart Clifford, Luke McConochie, Darryl Cummings, Justin Brookes and Nick Wilson represented Dubbo, as did members of the support crew Darren, Lynda and Jazzy Haksteeg, and Ritchie and Andrew McKay.
Organisers now turn their focus to the London to Paris ride in July, Canberra to Mogo in September and Sydney to Dubbo in October. Andrew said the October ride to Dubbo tends to attract around 100 participants, double that of the ride from Canberra who are often “repeat riders”.
“I think that a lot of riders like to keep the Canberra to Dubbo ride a secret because it is such a great ride,” he laughed.
Overall Zoo2Zoo has raised over $1 million for the Black Dog Institute since 2009. To donate to the charity ride visit https://everydayhero.com.au/event/zoo2zoo2017