Make-A-Wish ride to roll through coast

THE Bellarine and Surf Coast are on the itinerary for a group of up to 30 riders seeking to raise over $60,000 for the Make-A-Wish foundation this March.

This year’s Bay’s Ride For Wishes trek will see riders setting off on a six-day journey from Sunbury that finishes 900km later at Federation Square in Melbourne.

Along the way, riders will stay overnight in Bendigo, Halls Gap, Warrnambool, Apollo Bay and Barwon Heads before the final leg takes them across to the Mornington Peninsula on day six, where the group will ride the last 102km into Melbourne.

The ride is the creation of Roger Fuller, whose son Bailey (or Bays) died suddenly in 2012 at the age of eight.

“He had limited speech but he still had a very active life, nothing fazed him,” Mr Fuller said.

During one of the Bays’ visits to the Royal Children’s Hospital, Mr Fuller discovered Make-A-Wish and after his son died, wanted a wish in Bays’ honour to occur.

“So I was challenged by a very close friend, ‘How about we do a bike ride, the two of us?’, and I said ‘Righto let’s do it, let’s make it significant, let’s go right around Victoria… but how about we raise $10,000 for Make-A-Wish at the same time?’,” he said.

When the first Bays’ Wish ride was held in 2019 the $10,000 target grew to a final total of $61,000, and riders this year will again seek to raise a similar tally when they hit the road.

The standard entry cost for each rider is $1,599 along with a minimum fundraising commitment of $2,000.

“The idea of a course is it’s kind of a story and a narrative and it gradually builds,” Race director Michael Hands said. “In fact it’s like a James Bond film, you have got to start with a bit of a bang… it’s a long day but a good chance for everyone to get to know each other.”