After more than a year of planning, fundraising, and physical training, the Headin’ South for a Cure initiative has today reached its climax with a most generous donation of almost $48,000 to the Australian Cancer Research Foundation!
The team of 10 fire fighters from Tasmania, led by co-founders Emma Weitnauer and Tim McKay, campaigned for all of last year in the lead-up to a heroic 14 day cycle; starting in Brisbane and ‘headin south’ to Hobart.
They set out on January 1st, taking no rest days and battling extreme weather conditions (some days reaching 48 degrees with strong, head on winds and extreme – sometimes catastrophic – fire danger ratings). They averaged more than 160km a day, arriving home on Jan 14th!
Major sponsor Bendigo Bank were behind the team the whole way, supporting fundraising initiatives and collecting donations to help fight cancer along with the fire-fighters. Today, we have received the full fundraising amount, and we couldn’t be more proud of this incredible team!
Emma told us throughout the journey, “We worked well as a team. We had our moments, highs and lows, but we got through it together, all in one piece and all as friends. We have shared an experience of a lifetime – one we will never forget!”
Along their journey south to Hobart they stopped into many towns to spread the message of their journey and accepted kind donations from the locals willing to help fight cancer! The troupe even stopped in to speak with a couple of local news journalists and TV programs.
The team kept a blog of their epic challenge – recording the highs and lows over the entire journey.
“We met some amazing people: Firies, members of the communities we rode through, Bendigo Bank employees. The generosity of everyone was unbelievable and we can’t thank you enough,” said Emma.
As local fire fighters themselves, they were swamped with support by many other fire fighters along the way from the different towns they stopped in.
Emma told us, “I’m so proud to be a fire fighter. Every firie we met was like a brother or sister. Fire fighters Australia-wide are like one big family.”
“We would all do anything for one another. We swamped many local fire stations when we rocked into their town and they couldn’t do enough for us!” said Emma.
The Headin’ South for a Cure team have done the most amazing job bringing cancer research dreams closer through the momentous amount of funds they’ve raised to help fight cancer, and for that, we thank them all very much!
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