Three South Gippsland sisters have help to launch a charity bike ride in Gippsland that will support the Centre for Eye Research Australia’s (CERA’s) work to end preventable blindness.
Lions Ride for Sight is one of CERA’s longest-running fundraising events and celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. It is supported by Lions Clubs across Gippsland.
The first Lions Ride for Sight went from Mallacoota to Melbourne in 1994. This year’s ride is shorter, but no less significant. Riders will gather in Moe on Friday March 22 and will cycle to Cowwarr, between Traralgon and Heyfield, and return on March 23 and 24 – about 170km.
Sisters Sharon Oates, Leesa Willmott and Kerry Fitzgerald – known in the Lions Ride for Sight fraternity simply as the Three Sisters, raised more than $30,000 in last year’s ride – the most collected by a single team.
They will cycle in both the Ride for Sight and the Ride with a Difference, in which riders nominate the distance they intend to ride during March and collect from sponsors for the kilometres they cover.
The Three Sisters are taking part in both rides and have set a lofty target of more than 600km. They got off to a great start on Friday, March 1 with a lap of the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit as part of the first 100km they covered for Ride with a Difference that day.
Businesswoman Sharon Oates, of Inverloch, said the ride had special meaning for her family.
“It’s very important to my family because our parents and three of our sisters all have macular degeneration. They’re all in the early stages of it. Dad is legally blind and mum has a wet macula. She has injections in her eye every six weeks,” Sharon said.
“The Centre for Eye Research is actually trying to develop an eye drop that would counteract that injection, so this money goes to trying to make something of a new thing with the eye drop.
“To be able to raise money to give to the likes of the Centre for Eye Research Australia to do amazing research and developing new drugs and all that sort of stuff is just incredible and to me, it makes me really proud to be a part of it (the ride).”
CERA’s Bronwyn Sugden said CERA is grateful for the enduring support of the Gippsland community over the past 30 years.
Preparations are well underway but a few more volunteers are needed to lend a hand.
“The ride is going to plan but we could always do with some more volunteers. Particularly, we’re after marshals to direct the riders safely, and we’re also after a first aid person with first aid qualifications,” a spokesperson said.
To join the Ride for Sight or Ride with a Difference, or to volunteer the riders, details are available on the event’s Raisley page. For enquiries, email paul.drinkwater@aussiebroadband.com.au or phone 0450 260 679.
Supporting the cause
Participants can enter the ride itself from March 22 to 24 with a $70 entry fee. They must raise a minimum of $400 in sponsorship.
Or, riders can enter the Ride with a Difference, where riders pay $30 to enter and nominate the distance they aim to ride anywhere during March to raise a minimum of $250 in sponsorship.