Community & Business
29 May, 2022
Company support saves Cape ride
SUPPORT from a regional housing company has saved the Ride to the Cape 2022 charity event.
Kenfrost Homes has come to the rescue of the event with a $70,000 donation to make sure the ride, which raises money for Ronald McDonald House Charities, takes place again this year.
The event is scheduled for 20-27 August and involves participants being flown from Cairns to Coen where the ride starts in earnest and ends at the tip of the Cape. Riders are then flown back to Cairns from Horn Island.
The “Rivers of Gold” ride will see up to 30 riders trek through a gruelling week-long bike ride which, in its inaugural race last year, raised $256,000 for the charity, funding over 1,560 nights’ accommodation for families in need, making it the most successful single fundraising event in RMHC North Australia’s history.
With the Brisbane floods having impacted many of last year’s riders, the feasibility of this year’s ride was at a critical point with all signs pointing to the need to postpone the event until 2023.
Noting the incredible difference that last year’s ride made to the charity, 2021 event major sponsor, Kenfrost Homes, refused to see the event postponed and has generously increased its financial support for the event to a massive $70,000 ensuring that riders go pedal to the metal in 2022.
“Raising money is hard work. It takes a huge amount of effort to get fundraising events off the ground and make them a success,” said Kenfrost’s Alex Loughton. “This event has already proven its success in 2021. We recognised that this situation was ready made with all the elements in place, it just needed help to push it over the line. Families with sick kids are in need every year, and Kenfrost Homes refuse to let this event fall down in 2022.”
With 177 Torres, Cairns and Hinterland families staying at Ronald Mc- Donald House Townsville in 2021, 20 Cairns region children utilising the Ronald McDonald Learning Program and 13 families utilising the Ronald McDonald Family Retreat in Palm Cove last year, the continued support of the community is vital to the charity’s success. For more information, go to https:// bit.ly/RiversOfGoldRMHC
