Dad's ride to honour daughter

Renee Pilcher

GYMPIE'S Randal Bishop has a big week organised next week - physically and emotionally - as he cycles to Sydney.

He will ride in honour of his daughter, Shaynae, and in aid of the Cure for Life Foundation, which aims to find a cure for the disease which took her life.

Shaynae died in July at the age of only 17, from a brain tumour.

Randall has done a few big distance rides with Bicycle Queensland, but nothing like the super marathon he will be starting next week, when he sets out for Sydney.

“I'll be taking the Bruce Highway along the 90kmh section and cyclists tell me it's pretty safe on the very wide shoulders after that.

“I'll shoot into the back roads from Landsborough through Caboolture.

“From the Gold Coast, I'll head up to Kyogle, Casino and then to Tenterfield and Armidale.

“They're down to one degrees at Armidale in the morning.

“From there, it'll be down to Muswellbrook, Cessnock and down into Sydney.

He expects to make Brisbane by the end of his first day and to reach Sydney in nine days, all up.

“That means 125km average a day.

“I've managed to average that before on shorter rides, but this is definitely my biggest ride.

“I think if you can do two or three days, you should be able to do nine - shouldn't you?” he asked, with a grin.

In any case, there's no rush and if he needs to take a day off to rest his legs - he can do that any time he likes.

“There's no marching band waiting for me at the other end, so I don't really have to keep up with anyone,” he said.

“It's not a race,” he said.

Randal's ride is really Shaynae's Ride and that is what it is officially named.

It will end at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital and will involve pedalling 1200km in celebration of the life of his daughter, who was born on January 31, 1992 and died on July 16 this year.

The beneficiary of any donations is the Cure for Life Foundation, which exists to save the lives of people suffering from brain tumours.

It was established by neurosurgeon Dr Charles Teo, in response to Australia's increasing incidence of brain tumours and a shortage of research into finding a cure. It is now Australia's leading not-for-profit research support organisation in the field.

Gympie businesses are strongly backing the ride, with Impact Signs providing signage on the support vehicle, Gympie Graphics for donation cards, In House Monograms for Cure for Life/ Shaynae's Ride hat monograms, Tag Screen Printing for Screen printed shirts and Pedal Power Plus for setting up bike for the ride and The Gympie Times.

He says many other local traders have helped immensely by displaying “Shaynae's Ride” donation cards.