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MORE than 120 riders on pushbikes and horses braved a bitterly cold day and a strong headwind to help raise nearly $70,000 in the inaugural Mungindi to Collarenebri charity bike ride at the weekend.
The 100km trek across the backblocks on north-western NSW was organised by cancer survivor Kelly Smith, who originally planned a solo ride between the two towns.
But such was the support from local communities across the black-soil plains, Mr Smith’s one-man show quickly became a major fundraising event, with more than 500 supporters lining the streets of Collarenebri to greet the huge contingent.
An auction, barbeque and quick-shear were held after the ride with all money raised going to the Royal Flying Doctors, Can-Assist and the Cancer Council.
“It all went off very, very well and at this stage the money raised is just a tick under $70,000 with more donations coming in,” Mr Smith said.
“I’d like to crack the $70,000 mark but we won’t have an exact figure until later this week.
“So many people and sponsors chipped in to make it a huge success; the auction alone raised nearly $40,000,” he said.
“People like Sharon Girling who looked after our website as well as a million other things and our local butcher, Aaron Cochrane, who supplied meat for the barbecue and meat tray upon meat tray for raffles – I don’t know how he did it all.”
Mr Smith was diagnosed with lung cancer 12 months ago, but after surgery at Strathfield Private Hospital and a series of chemotherapy sessions at Dubbo Base Hospital’s oncology unit he was given the all-clear by specialists.
A horseman all his life, Mr Smith hit upon the charity bike ride as a major fundraiser while undergoing chemotherapy.
And flanked by his grandsons, four-year-old Jack Witts and three-year-old Oliver Sykes, he proudly led the team of cyclists and horse-riders into Collarenebri late Saturday afternoon.
“There was a lot of tears; it was very, very emotional,” Mr Smith said.
“And it looks like the ride will become a regular thing. In the last 40km or so, everyone kept saying, ‘what time will this be on next year’,” he said.
“We’ll be bigger and better, and might try and incorporate a music festival into it as well.”
Mr Smith, a former jockey, horse-trainer and shearing contractor, is not one to rest on his laurels, either. Already he’s in training to take part in a charity bike ride from Lightning Ridge to Dubbo in September as part of the David Peachey Foundation.
“It’s a bit of a marathon that one, but it will be broken up over three days with stopovers at Walgett and Coonamble,” he said.
Co-organiser Sharon Girling said the Mungindi to Collarenebri charity bike ride would indeed become an annual event.
“The feedback we’ve received from the town and district is unbelievable,” Ms Girling said.
“Everyone is saying how great it was, and how it was great to do something for the town.
“This is the biggest event Collarenebri has seen, until next year that is,” she grinned.
Story by Bill Poulos
‘Twas Kelly Smith from Colly that caught the cycling craze;
He turned away the good old horse that served him many days;
He dressed himself in cycling clothes, resplendent to be seen;
He hurried off to town and bought a shining new machine;
And as he wheeled it through the door, with air of lordly pride,
The grinning shop assistant said, “Excuse me, can you ride?”
- With abject apologies to AB “Banjo” Paterson
Story by Bill Poulos
If 12 months ago Collarenebri horseman Kelly Smith had been asked how many times he’d been on a pushbike, he would’ve shaken his head, laughed uncontrollably, and jumped on his horse and rode away.
But circumstances in the last 12 months have changed for the 50-year-old former shearing contractor, stockman, racehorse trainer, one-time jockey and general bush knockabout.
In late July last year Smith suffered a minor accident while working with sheep at his Collarenebri feedlot.
Later that day he was in considerable pain, and a subsequent visit to the local doctor turned into a life-threatening – and life-changing – journey of despair, hope and inspiration.
“I was weighing some sheep at the little feedlot I’ve got and one pulled me back on to an iron peg which caught me on the left side in the chest,” Smith said.
“That afternoon when I cooled down I still felt a fair bit of pain; I’d had a bit of a bleed inside apparently.
“I went to the hospital and our local doctor, Jolmer Smit, did an X-ray and found something on my lung, so they flew me straight to Dubbo and did a biopsy,” he said.
Smith’s biopsy on August 1 – ironically the horses’ birthday – delivered the worst possible news.
“I was diagnosed with lung cancer and told if I wasn’t operated on straight away I wouldn’t live 12 months,” Smith said.
Smith underwent surgery at Strathfield Private Hospital in Sydney, where the top-left lobe of his left lung was removed. After extensive chemotherapy he emerged a rare breed among cancer sufferers – a survivor.
“I’ve just been very, very lucky . . . very lucky,” he said
While recovering, Smith was advised to undergo chemotherapy because of age and health reasons.
“I did the chemo and it all went well, and then when I was told I was in remission I thought, ‘what’s the best way to get fit?’,” he said.
That’s when the humble pushbike pedalled its way into this quintessential bushman’s life.
Smith began cycling to regain his strength, and one day while sitting in the oncology unit “with the world on my shoulders”, he hit upon an idea that would see a world of good come out of his ordeal.
With inspiration from his wife Carol and grown-up kids Prue, Aaron, Kirsty and Trent, Smith began planning a casual Saturday afternoon bike ride for charity – all 100kms of it.
“I had plenty of time to think, so I set a goal that once I was through this I would ride from Mungindi to Collarenebri; I bought a bicycle on my last day of chemo and began training,” he said.
Smith, who won his hometown Collarenebri Cup as a jockey back in the early 1970s, originally planned to do the 100km ride solo. He reckoned he’d get a few sponsors on board and raise some much-needed funds for The Royal Flying Doctors, Can-Assist and the Australian Cancer Council.
“I’d read the book on Lance Armstrong, who won seven-odd Tour de Frances after he had a real bad bout of cancer,” Smith said.
“I reckoned if he could do that, I could ride a bike 100km between Mungindi and Colly,” he chuckled.
But somewhere along the trail, Smith’s solo charity ride across some of the prettiest countryside in north-western NSW took on Tour de France proportions.
First the Colly cop and local ambos decided they would tag along. Then a few locals thought, ‘why the heck not?’, and before Smith knew it he had a following befitting Forrest Gump’s epic jog across America.
“I just can’t believe how so many people have come forward to support this – everyone just wants to do this trip down the road,” Smith said.
“People don’t have to ride the full distance – I’m the only silly bugger that’s obligated to do that – but there’re quite a few that will do it with me.”
At last count Smith had more than 200 people roped in for the June 16 fundraiser, and the $15,000 original target has now escalated to $50,000.
“It wouldn’t be a shock to me if we raised somewhere between $50,000 and $80,000 the way the whole thing is coming together,” Smith said.
“There are a lot of people coming for the ride and some to see just what’s going on – I’ve never seen Collarenebri buzz so much.
“Our two doctors here at Colly are going to ride as well as the doctor from Mungindi – even the ambos are going to ride.
“And the pushbikes that are getting around town . . . it’s unbelievable. I just can’t believe the amount of people that have gone out and got themselves pushbikes,” he said.
“Most people here wouldn’t know how to pump up the tyre on a pushbike, let alone ride one, and now they’ve got pushbikes themselves,” he laughed.
A webpage has been created – www.collarenebricharitybikeride.websyte.com.au – and thousands of dollars worth of goods and sporting memorabilia has been donated for a huge post-race auction.
Sporting luminaries like leading Sydney trainer Gai Waterhouse and South Sydney Rabbitoh David Peachey have donated signed items for auction and locals have pitched in with goods and services.
The local grader driver has offered six hours’ work within a 70km radius of Colly, and about $10,000 worth of round and square bales of sorghum hay have been donated.
A rugby league jersey signed by Bronco Shane Webcke will also be offered as well as a triptych of Makybe Diva’s historic three Melbourne Cup wins.
The charity ride has grown at such a rate, that local and visiting horsemen have also jumped on board – damn the pushbikes, they reckon.
“It’s getting bigger every day,” Smith said.
“Originally it was going to be just pushbikes but now it’s turned into horses as well.
“There’re horse-riders coming from the Gold Coast, some from Ballina . . . it’s just gotten so widespread,” he said.
Smith’s good mate, Moree racehorse trainer Peter Sinclair, smiles knowingly when told the ride has developed from a one-man show to a cast of hundreds – mechanical, human and equine.
“If I know Kelly Smith, the bike ride will be bigger than Ben Hur,” Sinclair grinned.
“The best way to describe Kelly is that he’s a tough, rough, hard bloke from Colly, but one of the best blokes you’ll ever meet.
“I’ll never forget when he rang me up and told me he had cancer . . . two grown men broke down and cried,” he said.
“It really affected him, and it’s obviously had an affect on his life since the operation.
“The doctor at Colly picked up that he had cancer; Kelly was just so lucky,” said Sinclair, whose own father Phillip also beat a cancer-related illness earlier this year.
The charity bike ride next Saturday starts at 7.30am at the Jolly Swagman Hotel at Mungindi, crosses the NSW-Queensland border twice, and ends at Collarenebri’s Tattersall’s Hotel at around 3.30pm.
“We’ll do the NSW side for 500m then cross the bridge border into Queensland for 10km before crossing back over the fence-line border at the one-ton post,” Smith said.
“We have people of all ages involved; the little ones and pre-schoolers in Mungindi will start us off with a 500m ride to the bridge and there’ll be people on pushbikes, horses and riding in horse-drawn carts and carriages.
“A huge group of students and a heap of teachers are coming from Moree to be a part of it as well,” he said.
In true outback style, Smith has organised the whole shebang to start and finish at a couple of bush pubs.
“Both pubs have really gotten behind this, and I’m sure there’ll be a cold beer or two available when we get back to Colly, especially when the auction and barbeque kicks in that night,” Smith grinned.
“Again, I just can’t believe how many people have supported the whole idea.
“I’m one person that really shocked Collarenebri when I was diagnosed with cancer – it made a lot of people sit back and think, mainly myself.
“I can take a lot for granted but once something like that happens, you discover that there’s a whole new world out there and that you can do something for it,” he said.
* Persons wishing to take part in the charity bike ride, or become sponsors, can contact Kelly Smith on 0427 459 736 or visit www.collarenebricharitybikeride.websyte.com.au for all details.
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