Suns coach shines bright with monumental ride

A FITNESS coach at the Surf Coast Suns has helped raise awareness of his club’s needs for its own facilities by cycling 1,000km from Sydney to Torquay North.

Torquay local Nathan Hudson arrived at Polwarth Oval on Friday evening to a crowd of more than 100 proud members of the Suns, who cheered him over the finish line.

He described the 1,000km journey as one of the tougher physical challenges he has done to date, with his body and his mind playing plenty of tricks on him while in the saddle.

While the ride was tougher than he expected, Mr Hudson said he kept strong, knowing he was being supported by junior players from the Surf Coast Suns back home, who were riding bikes in their respective teams to raise awareness and funds to support the project.

As he rode into Polwarth Oval, Mr Hudson sported a huge smile on his face and said he was incredibly proud to have completed the ride and to see the whole club and community embracing the Suns’ mission.

“I was certainly pretty tired after the ride but to come in and see all the smiling faces was pretty special.

“It’s definitely good to be back – it made it all feel really worthwhile by banding everyone together for this common cause.

“To ride around the block is nothing really special, but to ride from a capital city to home is a bit more significant and people might sit up and listen a bit more.

“I hope it has more impact and motivates others to not sit on their hands but to get involved in achieving this cause.”

The Suns presently share facilities with several other sports clubs at Polwarth Oval, but with the continuous growth of the club, the Suns believe the time is right to have its own clubroom.

“We’ve got 18 teams and 800 kids at the moment… there’s heaps of participation and getting these facilities will go a long way in sustaining a positive future for our club,” Surf Coast Suns president Jay Williams said.

“The senior football/netball program and proper facilities are ultimately our long-term goals – Nathan’s ride [was] the perfect symbol of our hard work to achieve them.”

To find out more and donate to help the Suns’ cause, head to gofund.me/9296bc01

The GoFundMe has already raised $6,326 to help the club contribute to the new facilities if the opportunity does arise.

The fundraising link will remain live until June 17.