A big 3 days – 500km covered, and 210km to do tomorrow
We have covered 500km in the past 3 days, and the tour is just magic. After stopping in Victor Harbour on the first night, the route has taken us across the Murray to the small fishing village of Meningie, past The Coorong (remember Storm Boy) and across to Bordertown SA. And tonight, after travelling across the SA/Vic border we are in Horsham in Victoria.
Each night we have had a wonderful welcome from the local community and it’s heartwarming to see the trouble they have been to in preparation for our visit, and also the fantastic fundraising they have done for us in such small communities. Meningie hosted an auction, Frances school are doing their own bicycle tour (called Tour de Frances!). These are very small communities, and they are so sincere in their wish to help the great work that is done by Tour de Cure.
At the community dinner in Meningie, we heard from one of the research professors that TDC sponsors – Professor Michelle Haber. She quoted some interesting stats that 1 in 3 people will get cancer in their lives, that 30% of cancers are preventable, and that the survival rate of some cancers like Childhood Leukaemia has gone up from 25% to over 70% in the last 10 years. This is as a direct result of research done by their teams and other teams, with some of their funding coming from TDC. The only way to continue this progress towards a cure is more research, and more community based funding such as TDC.
The cycling each day has been through mixed conditions, with quite heavy rain on the morning out of Meningie, followed by warmer but windy afternoon, and then a fantastic 20degree still day today on quiet country backroads, with only a few big Semi trailers to contend with. Our Peleton of riders is protected by cars front and back, and we are all riding well as a team – today averaging almost 35km/h for the 175km covered.
Filming Sunrise at Victor Harbour – with the Sunrise crew!
Waiting for the Ferry across the Murray at Wellington, near Lake Alexandrina and the Coorong.
Briefing on tour route, distances and stops for the day, special instructions, schools visited
Presenting a cheque for $10,000 to TDC at the BorderTown school. With Mark Beretta in Red Jacket.
Frances Public School near SA border. All 28 students and the teacher sang a song for us. Just beautiful!
Tomorrow is a huge day – 210km to Bendigo. We will visit 3 more schools on our way, so we leave at dawn and will probably get in to Bendigo at sunset.
Thanks for supporting me and TDC – stay tuned.
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