Epic ride gives hope

“Queensland felt like a different country – the warmth and genuine interest of people was really wonderful,” co-ordinator Terrill Riley-Gibson said this week as the riders raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation and Royal Flying Doctors Service crossed the border into Victoria.

Long Ride 4 Life (LR4L) came about when 76-year-old bushman and lifelong stockman Harold Riley decided to retire to Tasmania close to daughter Terrill, and needed to transport his four horses all the way from Alpha.

“Why not ride them, we thought?” Terrill said. “Four people, four horses and four dogs – it can’t be that hard.”

The idea then developed into a fundraiser for the two causes closest to their hearts – Harold himself has been an RFDS ‘frequent flyer’, while Terrill’s husband Andrew Gibson is a leukaemia survivor.

Rounding out the completely self-funded team that started off from the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame on July 16 is Dutch architectural technician Anna Hoogeboom.

There have been a lot of challenges, apart from sore backsides – poor or no phone reception or internet, shredded trailer tyres, a fatigued wheel rim, a bout of gastro, buckjumping antics and, much as most Queenslanders would welcome it, rain has brought its own challenges.

Although the city slickers have been suffering a similar sort of fatigue to their equipment and found Queensland’s drought-stricken visage very challenging, the gestures from big-hearted western communities – Morven principally among them – has been a balm to their soul.

Anya Burns and the Morven P&C pulled out all stops with a spread of classic country cooking at short notice so the group could explain their cause and take donations.

“These people generously supported us for no other reason than they just wanted to help,” Terrill said.

“They had their own dramas with drought but are giving when they’re least able to.

“That’s what I call big-hearted people.”

One of the biggest thrills for the LR4L team has been meeting the people their cause is designed to help along the way, giving their very long ride a real purpose.

The first of these was eight-year-old Ingrid Bourne at Barcaldine, who was diagnosed with the blood disease when she was two and was airlifted by the RFDS for urgent treatment in Brisbane.

The team ran into yet another leukaemia survivor in the next town, Blackall.

Denise Collins told them of the stem cell therapy her husband Ross was undergoing, and the help they had received from LR4L’s charities of choice.

Three days later they hit Tambo and heard the story of Emma Zeller, who was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was two and had a bone marrow transplant at the age of 10.

“She’s been in remission for 15 years but we just about lived in hospital for nine years and the Leukaemia Foundation was always there in the background for us,” Emma’s mother Verna Krukow said.

Even the policeman escorting the crew into St George had just completed chemotherapy for a blood cancer.

“We also met another man, a hardy, weather-beaten shearer who had donated his stem cells to his brother to hopefully give him new life,” Terrill said.

“The transplant was rejected and his brother sadly died.

“This stoic man gratefully accepted my hug and later gave us $50.”

Although originally scheduled to finish off the epic trek with a street parade and appearance at the Ulverstone Show on November 1, they are now planning to take some time to regenerate and create a legacy so that everyone who metaphorically came on the trip with them can have a record.

Plans include a photo journal and calendar of the beautiful images captured, and the history visited as they have moved down through Australia’s stock routes.

“We want to invite all our sponsors to Tasmania in March next year for the final function to celebrate our achievements together,” Terrill said.

It will also be husband Andrew’s 50th birthday and the occasion will mark the fifth anniversary of his successful stem-cell treatment.

While this brave Australian odyssey has been trekking through the cold, wind, rain and heat for 100 days because they want to ‘give back’, they are still keen to raise a lot more money to meet their $250,000 target for the organisations that give life to people in remote Australia.

Donations can be made at http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/longride4life LR4L. Progress can be tracked at www.longride4life.com