Lynne Mowbray|
The 5th annual Clarence Valley Ride for Youth, 24 hour cycle challenge, was held over the weekend, at the Junction Hill Criterium Track.
Over the last four years, participants have ridden a staggering 29,817km to raise awareness and funds for youth mental health initiatives in the Clarence Valley, raising almost $30,000 in the process. All of the money raised has been directed towards local youth mental health initiatives, including mental health literacy training, youth drop-in, youth sporting and cultural events and youth activities, across the Clarence Valley.
Local mountain biking legend Morgan Pilley saddled up once again for the annual 24 hour marathon event, encouraging the community to join him on the track.
Event organiser and general manager of The New School of Arts Neighbourhood House Inc. Skye Sear said that Morgan approached them a few years ago after deciding that he wanted to give something back to the Clarence Valley community.
“As a result, we came up with the ‘Ride for Youth’ and this is the 5th annual ride that he’s done,” Skye said.
“Over that time we’ve had something like 400 riders involved.
“This year we had a record number of riders with 143 riders taking part, compared to 131 last year.
“We absolutely smashed last year’s record of 11896 laps with a massive effort this year of 14,796 laps – which works out to be about 11,036 km.
So far we’ve raised about $3,400 or so towards our annual goal of $10,000 and people can still donate at www.givenow.com.au/rideforyouth2019.
“Our dream at the moment is to create a mobile youth hub, so we want to have a vehicle and trailer that we can take out to outlying communities across the Clarence Valley and provide youth outreach via that mobile youth hub – so that’s what we’re working towards.
“We’re about half way there at the moment with about $20 000 raised (from previous Rides and other things) out of our initial target of $50 000,” she said.
