Challenge South Australia — Pre-tour Blog
18 March 2024
Written by: Christian Killeen - Challenge SA Ride Director
It’s the night before the Mater Smiling for Smiddy team roll out of Adelaide and embark on 630 kms of some of the best riding in Australia, made famous by the Tour Down Under, on a course designed by TDU Race Director and Smiddy Ambassador Annette “Nettie” Edmondson.
For me, this will be my 3rd ride commencing in Adelaide, and on each occasion previously the weather gods have not played nice with us, I am thankful to say that the forecast over the next 5 days looks positive and we are hopeful the extraordinary course will be supplemented with great weather too.
For the Mater Smiling for Smiddy organising team, the final days before a ride can be very stressful and anxiety ridden. For us, the ride isn’t in it’s beginning phases, waiting to start. For us it began over 12 months ago – courses pulled together, local research done in the background, idea’s formulated, the best climbs to go up and descents to go down, all pencilled in months ago. So, by time we reach the day before, we have gone over multiple scenario’s of what the ride might be, so many times – we are now just looking forward to David Smiddy ringing the cowbell to send the riders on their way and we can settle in and allow the event to unfold.
My hope is. that after 10 years, I have learnt to hide my inner anxieties while I wait for that cowbell to ring, or at the very least appear to be keeping a calm demeanour, but I am not always so sure I succeed in doing so. I know for both Krista and myself, we take great pride in delivering the best events we can – we do so firmly in the understanding, that the Smiddy name which has been lent to us and to which we must honour along with the ethos we believe so strongly in – Teamwork, Spirit, Mateship.
For me personally Challenge South Australia represents a great milestone, in February this year, I proudly clocked over 10 years working with Mater Foundation and organising Smiling for Smiddy events. It is a proud achievement and when I look back at the kms I have journeyed around Australia and New Zealand on our events – you realise just how much of our wonderful countries I have seen – either by bike or in a car. My last count placed me well over 40,000 kms that I have covered riding, supporting, investigating and planning events – through every state bar WA, plus covering most of the South Island of New Zealand. It is something I am truly grateful to have experienced over that time.
But for me the greatest part of my 10 years working to create and delivering Smiddy events, and the 6 years before that of participating in Smiddy rides, is without question the amazing people I have met along this journey, the stories I have heard and memories we have shared riding our bikes. I look back to the first ever Smiddy ride I did as a participant in 2008, riding 1600 kms from Brisbane to Townsville. To know that a number of the people who joined me on that ride, 16 years ago, are here in this room tonight; Mark “Sharky” Smoothy, David Smiddy, Kevvy Enchelmaier, Chris Geeves, Mick “Booba” Young, Tim Smith, and Rowan Foster – and to have so many long term supporters still actively and passionately involved is a true testament to the Smiddy community.
Through Smiddy there are people I have met who I now call my closest friends, people who you know you can call in a crisis who will be there for you in an instant, who will support you in your tough times and champion you in your success’s.
I do feel truly blessed to have found a calling that has given me true purpose.
And sitting among us tonight, there is a whole new group of people, first time Smiddy riders, who I get the chance to meet for the first time, bringing their stories, their reasons for joining our ever expanding community.
On the other hand, one of the more challenging parts of being apart of such an amazing community, is for the people who aren’t here. Since my first ride in 2008 – we’ve had a tradition of producing a cycling cap in honour and recognition of someone close to our community who has passed away through their cancer journey. I have a large and treasured collection of cycling caps which represent far too many people lost to this horrible disease, they are a subtle reminder that our fight for better treatments and more research are not over, that we must continue to re-double our efforts to fund quality research, so that we do not have to produce cycling caps in honour of lost friends.
I was recently reminded of our need to do more thanks to Mark Trayner’s passionate and well articulated speech at last weeks Macquarie Russells Long Lunch – an amazing event which raised over $250,000 to support cancer research. Mark's speech reminded me of my thoughts when I joined Smiddy in 2008, for the first time. Bac then, I could say I was someone incredibly lucky not to have had a family member go through a cancer journey, but that simply gave more cause for concern than celebration. Being 1 of 5 children to my parents, with me and my 4 siblings, now have produced 8 off-spring of our own, and soon some of those will be looking to create their own families.
Mark reminded us that the stat’s around cancer remain stark, 1 in 3 will have a cancer diagnosis by 75.
When I first joined Smiddy I was doing so to enjoy an amazing adventure on my bike, but also to pay it forward — with the hope that should my families time comes calling, much work would have been done, that they won’t need to suffer as others close to our community have.
When we set off tomorrow in Adelaide, I do so with the memory of many friends who’s journey has ended due to cancer, and I do so knowing that my families journey with this disease is only just beginning. And it is this that drives my passion to continue to work harder, to do more, raise more and support the amazing work of our researchers at Mater.
To the 58 riders and 20 support crew joining us at 6.30 tomorrow morning, as we set off on 5 days of challenging, but rewarding cycling – I say a massive thank you for your amazing support, the hard work fundraising and, for most, the hard yards training – for the rest, you still turned up anyway and are prepared to slog it out.
I hope you all enjoy Challenge South Australia and what the Smiddy Team have prepared for you.
