This is my first blog since the Townsville to Brisbane Bottlemart Smiddy Challenge back in September last year so get ready for some Sharky true and “never” exaggerated delightful tales from the saddle, as the freight train juggernaut, that is Smiling for Smiddy is returning to Tasmania next week!
Our five day tour of the east coast of Tassie will see us ride 653 kilometres from Launceston to Hobart.
The last time we held an event in Tasmania was back in 2013, in what we now know can be, and indeed was, a disastrous month known as ‘Evil September’.
That year we undertook a grueling 1200 km lap of Tassie which included more than 20 000 metres of climbing. What were we thinking?
Our 26 riders, myself included, were hammered mercilessly by unrelenting weather that included snow storms, white outs, drenching rains, hail and winds so strong that an entire 100 km of day seven was canceled due to gigantic life-crushing trees being blown over and across the very roads we were traveling on!
Mentally, I think it’s fair to say the team at Smiling for Smiddy were scarred, but eventually the memories faded, to be replaced with ones of what Smiddy events are famous for—camaraderie; mateship; good times and so much laughter that your sides hurt for months afterwards.
So Tassie was put back on the table and onward and downwards we go, with one condition—September was given the big hard flick, replaced with what we were told is a more settled month in the Apple Isle, March. I’ll believe that when I experience it!
The distance has also come down to a meandering and quite pleasant 653 kilometres and five days of riding instead of eight. So it’s really a luxury tour compared to what transpired in Tassie all those years ago.
This year, we have an enthusiastic group of 46 intrepid souls, which includes six lovely ladies and 40 burly men as well as 14 Road Crew volunteers and we’ll need each and every one of these incredibly kind individuals to help us pull off taking over the east coast of Tassie for five full days and nights.
As you know our events are great at bringing out incredible acts of kindness in the community that is Smiling for Smiddy.
To date the wonderful riders, thanks to their family, work and friends networks, have raised in excess of $230 000, and we feel confident by the end of the ride on Friday 16 March, we’ll have bumped that up to more than $300 000! A bloody stout effort by just 46 riders!
So get on board and buckle up and enjoy the ride ahead as the first blog post will be published by Tuesday 13 March with a wrap up and some photos from our first day on the road!
A huge thank you and welcome to all the riders; some are doing their first ever Smiling for Smiddy challenge and a lot returning for their second, third, or even fourth Smiddy ride:
Christian ' Killer' Killeen; Carl Airey; Lachlan Airey; Philip Anderson; Ian Bisson; Scott Carpenter; Grant Cole; Sam “Cookie” Cooke; Paul De Man; Kieran Egan; Paula Fleming; Michael Fordyce; Bruce 'Brucie' Frazer; Andrew Friebe; Scott Gleeson; Brett Goebel; Natalie Goebel; Ricardo Gray; Chris Hertle; Ben Hola; Philip Hunter; Jason Jaeger; Christopher Johnstone; Rob Knight; Andrew Leach; Gary 'Dr Koala' Leong; Tom Maxwell; Wayne Messer; Martin Millard; Mark Morrison; Matt Muir; Rose Nathan;
Krista 'Pagey' Page; Jessica Parrish; Rebecca Phillips; Stephen Russell; Timothy Russell; Andrew Russell;
Serge Simic; Ian Swarbrick; Jayden Swarbrick; Jeremy Sweeney; Nathaniel Syme; Archie 'Emily' Tait; Domonic Thompson; Mark 'Hollywood' Trayner; Brendan 'Whippsy' Whipps; and Zane Williams
Once again this event would not be possible without the Road Crew giving up a week of their annual holidays to Smiddy and the Mater Foundation. Thank you in advance to our volunteer Road Crew:
Jeannette Bayley; Monique Clarke; Kevin “Kevvy” Enchelmaier; Ed McDonnell; Prue Mowry; Wendy “Wendo” Muir; Kellie Rillie; Brooke Rose; David “Mr Smiddy” Smiddy; Sammi-Jo So; Kevin “Stemmy” Stemm; and Mia Stemm
It’s great to see that so many of our sponsors have really thrown their support behind this year’s ride and are jumping onto their bikes to join us for the ride! They’ve also been fundraising and have definitely helped us on our way to reaching that goal of $325 000!
From Russells we'll have Stephen Russell, Tim Russell and Ian Bisson on their bikes and Monique and Prue donning the fancy fluro shirts of the Road Crew; Zane Williams from Professional Cleaning Services (PCS) will also be doing the ride along with Kieren Egan from Allsports who will double as our physio for the trip.
And, lastly, I’d like to welcome to the Smiling for Smiddy family, the teams at Alpha Sport—including Wayne Messer who will be riding in Tassie and Ed McDonnell who'll be joining the Road Crew for the first time—and SGF (Strategic Global Fund)—whose Rob Knight who will also be jumping in the saddle—who have have signed up as sponsors of Smiling for Smiddy for 2018. Fellas, I'll hug you when I see you!
Until then, next stop … Launceston!
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