Ballarat to Barossa drive boosts FECRI

FOURTEEN volunteers in six colourful cars travelled from Ballarat to the Barossa last weekend in support of the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute.

Drive to Survive, an initiative of FECRI deputy chair and dealer principal of Morrow Motors, Gavin Morrow, is a three-day road trip which combines creativity and fundraising.

All money raised from the trip supports FECRI, Australia’s only regional cancer research institute, and the group set a target to raise $25,000.

Mr Morrow’s late father was treated by FECRI honorary director Professor George Kannourakis, and over 10 years Mr Morrow has raised nearly $120,000 for the organisation.

This was the first Drive to Survive initiative and Mr Morrow said he hopes to make it an annual event.

“We started just over 10 years ago, and George was treating my father,” Mr Morrow said.

“When he passed away, we felt as a family that we really liked what George was doing with his research and as a family we wanted to contribute to it.

“This is the first time we’ve done this, and we are hoping we can make it an annual event and grow it bigger and bigger.”

The trip began last Friday with a tour of FECRI’s Ballarat lab before the convoy covered 450 kilometres through Birchip to Mildura.

On Saturday, the six cars drove through Wentworth and Renmark to South Australia’s Barossa Valley before a trip to Birdwood Motor Museum and scenic towns like Hahndorf and Mount Barker on Sunday.

Each day had a different theme including crazy hats and disguises, and participants took part in a photo scavenger hunt while on the journey.