On Monday a team of three from Broken Hill set out on a 650km cycling trek from Whyalla to Port Lincoln, taking part in the Treasure Life Ride and aiming to raise $100,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
General Manager of Broken Hill Musicians Club and Broken Hill City councillor, Michael Boland, will be joined by Tim Ferguson and Lachie Harvey – as well as 14 other riders from South Australia – across the five days.
“It came about from the Regional Clubs NSW conference we had at the club last year,” Mr Boland told us.
“We had an amazing young local girl talk about her experience at Ronald McDonald House and her family’s experience when she was going through some illnesses.
“After that event, we ran around with the hat and raised $11,000 and some smart alec in the room yelled out that they’d donate another ten grand if I was to do the ride. Timmy Ferguson looked at me and just said, ‘welcome to Lycra’, so that was the start of it back in July last year.”
Since then, Mr Boland has been getting out as much as he can each day – with the odd day off here and there. Mr Boland says since January 1, he’s covered 1413.8km on his endurance road bike.
Coupled with three days a week of strength and conditioning to get the body in tip-top condition, he’s as prepared as he thinks he can be. And, while it’ll be his first time doing a long ride like this, he’s been cheered on by others offering support and guidance.
“They said there’s not much more I could do to be prepared so that’s always a bit of a confidence booster from ‘the old dogs’, who I guess you could say have done several of these.
“They basically said I’ve done all the training and got the miles in and done everything I can. Lots of kilometres and lots of training. All that’s left now is to get on the bike on Monday, pedal the 650km, and raise some money for a very worthy cause.”
A Gala Fundraiser Day was held at the Musicians Club last weekend. The festivities began at CSC Gym with 100,000m team or individual BikeERG rides, a BBQ lunch, a DJ, and prizes for winners and the best dressed. A Gala Charity Ball was held that same night consisting of art raffles, a three-course dinner, and entertainment.
With the total sitting somewhere in the vicinity of $35,000 so far, Mr Boland says it’s heading in the right direction, with the pledges starting to come in now and funds already making their way directly to Ronald McDonald House which has supported 31 families from Broken Hill in the past five years.
“Broken Hill’s an amazing place when it comes to this kind of stuff,” says Mr Boland.
“Another $4500 raised over the weekend will go towards the ride, as well as a lot of support from industry supporters in the club industry,” he said.
“I think around $18,000 has hit the actual bank account of the charity so that’s going straight to good use to support local families at their most difficult time of their life.
There will probably be double that amount of money yet to come in over the next couple of weeks to couple of months.”
You can follow Mr Boland and the Broken Hill team’s Treasure Life Ride via the Strava training app by searching his name. You can also donate to Treasure Life Ride via https://donorbox.org/treasure-life-ride-2024
“Us three will hold the Broken Hill flag proud,” says Mr Boland.
