Day 10 Swansea to Hobart
Day 10 and the home stretch! With breakfast on the shores of Swansea bay watching the sunrise, (following a brief sleep-in courtesy of daylight saving finishing), was a great way to mark a very special final day on tour. The trip down the coast from Swansea to Hobart included 140kms & 1,600m of climbing. Again no school visits scheduled being a weekend, but we had a arranged a couple community events with the locals along the way.
Whilst everyone was clearly very fatigued there was a real buzz amongst the group in the knowledge we would be rolling into Hobart to a great reception from family and friends. But we still needed to negotiate our way over 3 climbs and a few more k’s to complete our 1,570km journey from Sydney to Hobart….and increase awareness of preventing cancer through positive lifestyle choices and our fund raising to help find a cure.
Rolling out of Swansea, our journey followed the magnificent wild coast line of eastern Tasmania. With an opportunity to get great footage of the peloton rolling along this coast road, the channel 7 TV crew arranged a helicopter to film the bunch. Staying in tight formation, we would’ve presented a wonderful sight, looking forward to seeing this footage.
We headed 50ks down the road for morning tea with the local community of the fishing village of Triabunna. The Triabunna local’s turned out in great numbers to welcome ud, as ‘Weekend Sunrise’ did a number of live crosses helping to showcase the tour.
We then headed another 70ks on to Richmond and the outskirts of Hobart for our designated lunch spot and a chance for family to meet us before we’d be rolling into Hobart. However, prior to arriving in to Richmond we needed to tackle our the three climbs climbs of the day – ‘Bust-me-Gall’, ‘Black Charlie’s’ and ‘Break-me-Neck’ hills…names reflecting the colourful and irreverent history of Tasmania’s original place as a penal colony!
A civic reception with the new State Premier, was planned for our arrival on the steps of Parliament House. At approx 10kms out of town we were met by a police escort of cars and motorcyclists to give us a ‘green light’ passage across the Derwent River bridge into the city…, a real buzz, and finally the car was not the dominant vehicle on the road!
We arrived at our destination to be warmly greeted by a large crowd of family, friends and well wishers, making for a very enjoyable finish to an amazing tour down the east coast of Australia. As my trip was done in memory of close friend, Erik Mather, who passed away from melanoma cancer 2.5 years ago, it was great to see ‘the Mather clan’ – Monika, Damien, Benjamin, Ken, Unni, Rob & kids, waving a large ‘Team Erik’ sign and cheering me in what. What a special welcome…and thanks guys for your support & encouragement!
That night we all attended our final dinner at the Hobart Convention Centre…I was probably the only rider to require a whole table for my supporters…thanks again to the Mather’s….we did this for Erik, father-in-las Sid & all our friends, families & colleagues who have had to deal with, and those who have succumbed, to this insidious disease, cancer. My efforts (& discomfort) were nothing in comparison to their battles, I’d happily ride back to Sydney if mean’t we could cure everyone.
Some of the final stats include….we travelled over 1,600kms, climbed nearly 20,000m, and travelled across three states and one territory. And importantly we have raised $2.5m (& still going) for cancer research and, shared our cancer awareness message with nearly 4,000 school kids along our journey.
Thank you to all our support crew for keeping us safe and helping us along the journey, fellow riders, families and our supporters on the tour. We are making a difference!
Regards
Grant
Grant Harrod
On Friday March 28, 2014 I will be riding 1,576km from Sydney to Hobart, to help raise fund to find a cure for cancer on ‘Tour de Cure’s’ 2014 Signature Tour. To make a donation please go to, https://www.tourdecure.com.au/index.php/pages/donate/registration/e9dc5a
You can follow me at https://www.mytourdecure.com.au/granth
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