South West Bike Trek to raise funds for Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation

After two decades of pedal pushing for charity, the annual South West Bike Trek will have tyres hitting the tarmac for more than 580km from South Perth all the way down to Augusta. Raising funds for the Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation, the week-long trek will see South West riders stop-off at Harvey and Waroona, as well as Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River. Wanting to honour his father, Peter Manning instigated the trek, riding his father’s bicycle built in the 1930s. “I did up my father’s bike that was hanging on the shed wall, he was a road racer it’s 91 years old,” he said. Mr Manning said local clubs and community groups kindly jump on board to help out with accommodation and food for the cyclists. “The idea of the ride was to raise as much money as possible but if you can’t donate money your hospitality will be a donation,” he said. Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation general manager Kylie Dalton said this year’s 21 cyclists come from all over the State and the ride was one of the foundation’s biggest events. “It’s an unheard of thing to have such a long running event like this and we are planning to make a big splash next year on our 21st year,” she said. “Smaller businesses all the way down the path to Augusta get to hear about us and what we do with our research funding.” Over its 20-year cycle, the ride has raised more than $500,000. Donations can be made via the South West Bike Trek website along with live tracking of each cyclist.